, if you'll give me your word
to disperse, I'll order off the military, - our people sets up a hurrah, throws
up the game with the winning cards in their hands, and skulks away like a pack
of tame curs as they are. Ah,« said the hangman, in a tone of deep disgust, »it
makes me blush for my feller creeturs. I wish I had been born a ox, I do!«
    »You'd have been quite as agreeable a character if you had been, I think,«
returned Simon Tappertit, going out in a lofty manner.
    »Don't be too sure of that,« rejoined the hangman, calling after him; »if I
was a horned animal at the present moment, with the smallest grain of sense, I'd
toss every man in this company, excepting them two,« meaning Hugh and Barnaby,
»for his manner of conducting himself this day.«
    With which mournful review of their proceedings, Mr. Dennis sought
consolation in cold boiled beef and beer; but without at all relaxing the grim
and dissatisfied expression of his face, the gloom of which was rather deepened
than dissipated by their grateful influence.
    The company who were thus libelled might have retaliated by strong words, if
not by blows, but they were dispirited and worn out. The greater part of them
had fasted since morning; all had suffered extremely from the excessive heat;
and between the day's shouting, exertion, and excitement, many had quite lost
their voices, and so much of their strength that they could hardly stand. Then
they were uncertain what to do next, fearful of the consequences of what they
had done already, and sensible that after all they had carried no point, but had
indeed left matters worse than they had found them. Of those who had come to The
Boot, many dropped off within an hour; such of them as were really honest and
sincere, never, after the morning's experience, to return, or to hold any
communication with their late companions. Others remained but to refresh
themselves, and then went home desponding; others who had theretofore been
regular in their attendance, avoided the place altogether. The half-dozen
prisoners whom the Guards had taken, were magnified by report into
half-a-hundred at least; and their friends, being faint and sober, so slackened
in their energy, and so drooped beneath these dispiriting influences, that by
eight o'clock in the evening, Dennis, Hugh, and Barnaby, were left
