even the United Bull-dogs might
be proud; and finding, upon sounding him, that he was quite ready and willing to
enter the society (for he was not at all particular, and would have leagued
himself that night with anything, or anybody, for any purpose whatsoever),
caused the necessary preliminaries to be gone into upon the spot. This tribute
to his great merit delighted no man more than Mr. Dennis, as he himself
proclaimed with several rare and surprising oaths; and indeed it gave unmingled
satisfaction to the whole assembly.
    »Make anything you like of me!« cried Hugh, flourishing the can he had
emptied more than once. »Put me on any duty you please. I'm your man. I'll do
it. Here's my captain - here's my leader. Ha ha ha! Let him give me the word of
command, and I'll fight the whole parliament House single-handed, or set a
lighted torch to the King's Throne itself!« With that, he smote Mr. Tappertit on
the back, with such violence that his little body seemed to shrink into a mere
nothing; and roared again until the very foundlings near at hand were startled
in their beds.
    In fact, a sense of something whimsical in their companionship seemed to
have taken entire possession of his rude brain. The bare fact of being
patronised by a great man whom he could have crushed with one hand, appeared in
his eyes so eccentric and humorous, that a kind of ferocious merriment gained
the mastery over him, and quite subdued his brutal nature. He roared and roared
again; toasted Mr. Tappertit a hundred times; declared himself a Bull-dog to the
core; and vowed to be faithful to him to the last drop of blood in his veins.
    All these compliments Mr. Tappertit received as matters of course -
flattering enough in their way, but entirely attributable to his vast
superiority. His dignified self-possession only delighted Hugh the more; and in
a word, this giant and the dwarf struck up a friendship which bade fair to be of
long continuance, as the one held it to be his right to command, and the other
considered it an exquisite pleasantry to obey. Nor was Hugh by any means a
passive follower, who scrupled to act without precise and definite orders; for
when Mr. Tappertit mounted on an empty case which stood by way of rostrum in the
room, and volunteered a speech upon the alarming crisis then at hand, he placed
himself beside the orator, and though he grinned from