seeing the condition his nether garments were in. Being unconscious
of the cause, the major mistook their shouts for a manifestation of
his popularity, and having paused to acknowledge it with a bow,
continued on his way as the crowd dispersed.

It seems that the mischievous urchins, on seeing the major enter the
tavern, mounted his team and drove several times round the town, the
pig and chickens keeping up a medley of noise that seriously annoyed
numerous peaceably-disposed citizens. And having satisfied their
mischievous propensities, they left old Battle to himself, knowing
that he would keep faith with his master. Finding his faithful
animal gone, when he issued from the tavern, the major, not doubting
the steady habits of his horse, very naturally believed that he had
taken his way home, and thus forestalled his arrival. The only thing
that caused him any fear was, that some accident might occur to his
live stock. He therefore took the shortest road home, and so
completely absorbed in the contemplation of his profits, and of the
prospect of another chance for political fame, was he, that he
hastened on regardless of the planks the workmen had placed round
the well they were digging, and of which he became conscious only
when he had tumbled some twenty feet to the bottom. Beginning to
sink deeper and deeper in the sand, from which all his efforts to
extricate himself failed, he set up a cry of fire, regarding it the
one which would soonest bring him relief. And this cry he bawled
until he sent the whole town into a state of excitement.

And now, since I have exhausted the limits of my chapter, I must
reserve what took place between the major and his wife Polly, and
how she almost fainted at seeing him enter the house in so shattered
a condition, for another chapter.