"There's a good fellow. May I put Big Ben—such is his name, I'm told—into one of them?"
"Great heavens! do you want me to take the bear?"
"It's as gentle as a lamb! Would you like to see me put my head in its mouth?"
"No! lead it away, fix it where you like; but I say, Peter, you don't expect me to look after it, do you?"
"Give it lodging only! Jake's going to see to its board. Many thanks, Joel. I'm off to-morrow, but I'll be up to bid you good-bye in the morning. Come along, you limping Ursus, it's time you were abed."
CHAPTER VI
Joel's Darkness
Easter was over; Peter Fleming had gone back to Oxford; Joel Hart spent much of his time away from home; the lambing season was past; mid-summer had come.
Joel had friends after his own heart scattered through the countryside—young men with small estates and little education like himself. They forgathered in each other's houses, and spent their time cock-fighting and gambling, losing one day to gain the next, enjoying and suffering all the excitements of prosperity and failure in quick succession.