“Then-” but there was no need for any more words. When we came to our camp, they were just beginning to pack up.

"All right, Jack,” I said.

"We know that," replied he, " and next time you make a proposal on the hills, remember that sound travels a long distance; but we'll charitably suppose that certain noises like that "-clapping one hand on the other "were multiplied by the echoes to the extent we heard them."

"Pax! Jack, spare us," I exclaimed, and I verily believe I blushed. If I didn't, Winnie did.

When we came back to the hotel, I saw the river watcher who had taken such an interest in our departure, loitering about in company with a policeman, and the latter came up to me and said—

'Beg pardon, sir, are you Mr. Morton ?"

"Ah, then, perhaps you are Mr. Hinton ?"

"That is my name."

"And that gentleman's name is Seymour, perhaps?" "It is."

"Then I am very sorry," rapidly giving each of us a blue folded paper, "but when gentlemen like you break the law, what are we to expect from the lower

classes?" and with a pompous "Good evening," our friend in blue marched off with the watcher, leaving us three staring at each other, and the girls half ready

to cry.

"Just my luck," thought I, as I found the paper to be a summons for unlawfully taking samlets and aiding and abetting therein.

It took us a long time to persuade the girls and Mrs. Morton that a fine would be the only punishment, and that no particular disgrace was attached to our offence. As for me, I thought a wife was worth winning, even at the enormous expense of two pounds and costs; and she, in return for that assurance and a dozen others, was so kind as to let me off the first of my three promises.

XV.

A MORASS ADVENTURE

IN the latter part of last summer I was led in company with some relatives to spend my holidays at a little village on the Welsh coast, out of the ordinary beat of tourists, but otherwise remarkable for nothing but its general air of bleakness and sterility. The place was very quiet, but the lodgings were cheap and tolerably comfortable. These essentials being secured, we had to put up with the scenery, which was not very attractive. A long, low line of beach, surmounted by a high pebble ridge, leading on the one hand to the foot of some bold jutting cliffs, and on the other losing itself in an estuary; behind this, a black and dreary-looking bog, stretching three or four miles inland, and intersected in every direction by wide, artificial ditches, and deep, natural fissures

connecting the inky pools. A small river flowing into the estuary divides the bog, its course being marked by mounds of peat, cut from the firmer ground which forms its banks. Branching out at right angles to the river are other lines of peat-stacks, following the course of the larger drains, which herald the attempt to cultivate the dreary waste.

This was the view I beheld, as, standing one evening on the top of the stony ridge, I faced eastward. The sinking sun threw my shadow far over the bog, distinctly visible as it fell over the gilded rushes and the crimsoning pools. I had been strolling out with my gun, in the hope of adding some specimens to my cabinet, and was thinking of returning homewards, when a long-legged heron slowly sailed high overhead, in the direction of the river. I watched the bird till it alighted near one of the peat-stacks, and carefully noting the spot, I proceeded to a careful stalk, hoping to secure an acquisition. I contrived to get within seventy yards of the heron, and, as there was no cover of any kind nearer, I lay down behind the last mound I had reached, and with finger on the trigger watched patiently, in the hope that my quarry would feed towards me. I was not disappointed; it gradually approached some yards nearer my hidingplace, and either caught sight or scent of me, for it

suddenly rose, but in so doing came within range. Bang! went both barrels. Uttering a hoarse croak, the heron flew heavily away, keeping close to the ground, and evidently hard hit. I sprang up and followed, jumping the ditches, and avoiding the soft ground as best I could. During one particularly long jump, I lost sight of the heron for a moment; I caught sight of it again just in time to see it fall to the earth as softly as a snow-flake, and lie still with wings outspread to their full stretch. Between the bird and me, however, there was a crevasse wider than any I had yet leaped, and a dozen yards on the other side lay the object of my pursuit. The black slimy sides of the ditch overhung the water, which lay deep and still some six or seven feet below, and a few yards to the right connected with a large pool, having equally high and muddy banks. To the left was a labyrinth of similar ditches. Some distance in front, a broader and straighter crack in the flat expanse showed where the river lay. The bank on which I stood was a foot or two higher than the opposite bank. I describe the situation thus minutely in order to make the reader understand what afterwards happened.

Not liking to lose the prize so nearly in my grasp, I resolved to risk the jump. Laying down the gun, and taking off my coat, I made the effort, and cleared