Page:Our New Zealand Cousins.djvu/208

 a celerity which must have roused Mr. Thomas' envy. At all events the allusion he made to "the porridge-eating engineer" in his letters to the Argus, was taken hold of by the small wits of the place, and henceforth poor Thompson's life was made a burden to him by constant allusions to the satisfying dish so dear to Scotchmen.

In a burst of confidence, judging from my tongue that I would sympathize with him as a brother Scot, and having already seen that my own appetite was none of the least robust, "Man," he said, with some bitterness, "Yon was an' awfu' chiel, yon Vagabone! The beggar eevidently couldna enjoy the parritch himsel, so he needna been sae like a dowg i' the manger wi' his remarks aboot me. Ma fegs," he continued, "I'm thinkin' Athol Brose wad hae been mair i' the Vagabone's way than guid plain parritch. Feth! he looket mair like a batter't gill stoup than an honest parritch cogie ony w'y."

This deliverance of the engineer being a criticism upon his critic, I promised to record, greatly to the good old fellow's delight.

We spent a delightful time in Queenstown. Mrs. Eichardt's hotel is most comfortable. She looks well after every department herself, the result being that everything works smoothly. The trout cutlets and Scotch baps were joys for memory to linger lovingly upon. One trout was recently stranded here which weighed 40 lbs. Surely the boss trout of the world.

We walked up to Mr. Murray's fruit-garden, and