and the rapid expresses that passed from time to time between them the fact was that the finding of the tea pot proved a very fortunate discovery and was attended by a no less important result than the breaking up of the tea drinking that existed in the village we have now solved and explained this great mystery � and like all other mysteries discovery put an end to it made humble and sufficient apologies for having been drawn into the grievous of tea drinking as a token that the wickedness was for ever the was brought out and smashed with all due ceremony father too was induced to issue from the altar so severe an against the forbidden as suppressed the practice throughout the parish ob the defeated young was descended from a long line of private and of course exhibited in his own person all the practical wit sagacity cunning and of invention which the natural genius of the family sharpened by long experience had created from generation to generation as a standing capital to be handed down to son there was scarcely a trick plot scheme or that had ever been resorted to by his ancestors that had not at his finger ends and though but a lad of sixteen at the time we present him to the reader yet be it observed that he had had his mind even at that age admirably trained by four or five years of keen vigorous practice in all the resources necessary to meet the vigilance and stealthy of that animal � the in feet s talents did not merely consist in an acquaintance with the hereditary tricks of his these of themselves would prove but a miserable defence against the ever varying ingenuity with which the skill of the still hunter his approaches and his on the contrary every new plan of the must be met and defeated by a equally novel but with this in the of both that whereas the s devices are the result of mature deliberation � s from the very nature of the circumstances must be necessarily and rapid the hostility between the parties b ok being as it is carried on through such varied on both sides and by such and able by so many quick and unexpected turns of incident � it would be utter in either to rely upon tricks and stale their relative position and occupation do not therefore merely exhibit a contest between law and that mountain liberty or between the board and the � it presents a more interesting point for observation namely the struggle between mind and mind � between wit and wit � between and it might be very amusing to detail from time to time a few of those keen of practical cunning which take place between the and his eyed foe the they are curious as throwing light upon the national character of our people and us evidences of the surprising readiness of wit of invention and irresistible humour which they mix up with almost every actual concern of life no matter how difficult or critical it may be nay it mostly happens that the character of the peasant in all its fulness rises in to what he is called upon to encounter and that the laugh at or the upon the keeps pace with the difficulty that is overcome but now to our short story two men in the garb of gentlemen were riding along a remote by road one morning in the month of october about the year or not certain which the air was remarkably clear keen and a frost for the few preceding nights had set in and then lay upon the fields about them melting gradually however as the sun got strength with the exception of the sides of such hills and valleys as his beams could not reach until evening chilled their influence too much to the whiteness which covered them our had nearly reached a turn in the way which we should observe in this place skirted the brow of a that lay on the right lu point of fact it was a the defeated t inclined plane or slope rather than a but be this as it may the flat at its foot was studded over with bushes which grew so close and level that a person hi almost imagine it possible to walk upon their surface o coming within about two and fifty yards of this a the noticed a lad not more than sixteen on towards them with a upon his back the eye of one of them was immediately lit with that sparkling of habitual sagacity which marks the practised among ten thousand for a single moment he drew up his horse an action which however slight in itself intimated more plainly than he could have wished the obvious interest which had just been excited in him short as was the pause it betrayed him for no sooner had the lad noticed it than he crossed the ditch and disappeared round the angle we have mentioned and upon the side of the to gallop to the spot cross the ditch also and pursue him was only the work of a few minutes we have him said the we have one thing is clear he cannot escape us � speak for yourself replied his companion � � � as for me not being an officer of his majesty s i decline taking any part in the pursuit � it is a fair battle so fight it out between you � i am with you now only through curiosity he had scarcely concluded when they heard a voice singing the following in a spirit of that hearty which a cheerful contempt of care and an utter absence of all apprehension oh she you are my true lover you are all the riches that i do i solemnly swear now i ll ne er have my 