meeting is the week after next, you know; and, as to the greatcoat, perhaps between this time and the very cold weather, which, perhaps, won't be till Christmas, papa will buy a greatcoat for me."

To all this reasoning Mr. Gresham made no reply; 5 but he immediately bought the uniform for Hal, and desired that it should be sent to Lady Diana Sweepstakes' sons' tailor, to be made up.

"And how am I to lay out the three guineas for you, Ben?" said Mr. Gresham.

10

Mr. Gresham bought the coat; and after it was paid for, five-and-twenty shillings of Ben's three guineas remained. The long-expected first of September at length arrived. The sun shone bright, but there was a sharp and high wind. 15 "Ha!" said Ben, "I shall be glad of my good greatcoat to-day, for I've a notion it will be rather cold upon the Downs."

ee

Oh, never mind! I don't think I shall feel it cold at all," said Hal, as he dressed himself in his new green 20 and white uniform.

"Good morning to you, uncle; how do you do?" said he when he entered the breakfast-room. "How do you do?" seemed rather to mean "How do you like me in my uniform?" And his uncle's cool "Very well, I thank 25 you, Hal" disappointed him, as it seemed only to say, "Your uniform makes no difference in my opinion of you."

"The Master Sweepstakes, sir," said Stephen the butler, are come for Master Hal. They say that all the young gentlemen who have archery uniforms are to walk together in a body, I think they say, sir; and they are 5 to parade along the Well Walk, they desired me to say,

sir, with a drum and fife, and so up the hill by Prince's Place, and all to go upon the Downs together, to the place of meeting."

९९

Well," said Mr. Gresham, "don't keep these Master 10 Sweepstakes waiting. Off with you, Mr. Uniform."

Hal stepped proudly and felt as if the eyes of the whole universe were upon him. When they were halfway up the hill, he let go his hat, which he had hitherto held on with anxious care; for the hat, though it had a 15 fine green and white cockade, had no band or string round it. The string, as we may recollect, had been used in spinning Hal's top. The wind blew the hat down the hill and lodged it at length upon a bank. Hal pursued it. He thought this bank was hard, but alas! the moment 20 he set his foot upon it the foot sank. He tried to draw it back; his other foot slipped, and he fell prostrate, in his green and white uniform, into the treacherous bed of red mud.

The obliging mistress of a lodging house received Hal, 25 covered as he was with dirt. The uniform was rubbed and rubbed, and a spot here and there was washed out; and Hal kept continually repeating, "When it's dry it

will all brush off when it's dry it will all brush off, won't it?" But soon the fear of being too late at the archery meeting began to balance the dread of appearing in his stained habiliments; and he now as anxiously repeated, whilst the woman held the wet coat to the fire, 5

Oh, I shall be too late; indeed, I shall be too late; make haste; it will never dry; hold it nearer — nearer to the fire! I shall lose my turn to shoot! Oh, give me the coat; I don't mind how it is, if I can but get it on!”

Holding it nearer and nearer to the fire dried it 10 quickly, to be sure, but shrunk it also, so that it was no easy matter to get it on again. However, Hal, who did not see the red splashes, which were still too visible upon his shoulders and upon the skirts of his white coat behind, was pretty well satisfied to observe that there 15 was not one spot upon the facings.

At length he reached the appointed spot. There was a great crowd of people, and as they opened a passage for him they could not refrain from laughing at the mixture of dirt and finery which he exhibited. In vain, when 20 he got into the midst of the circle, he looked to his friends the young Sweepstakes for their countenance and support. They were amongst the most unmerciful of the laughers.

At this moment he felt somebody pull his elbow, and to 25 his great relief he heard the friendly voice and saw the good-natured face of his cousin Ben.

"Come back; come behind these people," said Ben, "and put on my greatcoat; here it is for you."

My hands are benumbed; I can scarcely feel,” said Hal, rubbing them and blowing upon the ends of his 5 fingers.

see.

Come, come," cried young Sweepstakes, "I'm within one inch of the mark; who'll go nearer? I shall like to Shoot away, Hal; but first understand our laws; we settled them before you came upon the green. You are 10 to have three shots, with your own bow and your own arrows; and nobody's to borrow or lend under pretense of others' bows being better or worse, or under any pretense. Do you hear, Hal?”

Hurried by his impatient rival, and with his hands so 15 much benumbed that he could scarcely feel how to fix the arrow in the string, he drew the bow. The arrow was within a quarter of an inch of Master Sweepstakes' mark, which was the nearest that had yet been hit. Hal seized his second arrow. "If I have any luck—" said he. But 20 just as he pronounced the word "luck," and as he bent his bow, the string broke in two.

"There, it's all over with you!" cried Master Sweepstakes, with a triumphant laugh.

It was now Ben's turn to make his trial. His first 25 arrow was not successful. His second was exactly as near as Hal's first.

"You have but one more," said Master Sweepstakes.