Mr. Fussell led off with 'The Stirrup Cup,' in deference to his being
the eldest of the party, and also to purchase his non-intervention
when the other performers should begin. It was some time before he got
a fair start, being afflicted with hoarseness, which he attributed to
the Highland air, and the rest unanimously to the Highland whiskey.
When at last he warmed to his work, however, and said complacently
that he was 'all right' now, they must have heard him at Aberdeen. He
had a good baritone voice, the value of which was discounted by his
total ignorance of the art of singing, his imperfect acquaintance with
both the time and the words of his songs, and his belief that the
louder one shouted the better one sang. When at last, crimson and
panting, but proud of himself, he sat down amid the astonished
comments of the company on the strength of the roof, Maurice Browne
wailed forth in a cracked voice a rollicking Irish song to the
accompaniment of 'Auld Robin Gray'; Fabian followed with no voice at
all, but no end of expression, in a pathetic lovesong of his own
composition, during which everybody went to look for some cigars he
had in his overcoat pocket. I refused altogether to perform, and
nobody pressed me; but I had my revenge. When Edgar, strung up to do
or die, asked Fabian to accompany him with 'The Death of Nelson,' and
rose with the modest belief that he should astonish them with a very
fine bass, the first note was a deep-mouthed roar that broke down the
last twig of our forbearance, and we all rose as one man and declared
that we had had music enough. Poor Ta-ta, who had been turned out of
the room at the beginning of the concert for emulating the first
singer by a prolonged howl, was let in again, and relief having been
given to everybody's artistic yearnings, we ended the evening with
smoke and peace.
Next morning we were all early on the moors, where we distinguished
ourselves in various ways. Fabian, who worked himself into a fearful
state of excitement over the sport, shot much and often, but brought
home nothing at all, and thanked Heaven, when calmness returned with
the evening hours, for keeping his fellow-creatures out of the range
of his wild gun. Maurice Browne made a good mixed bag of a hedgehog, a
pee-wit, and a keeper's leg, and then complained that shooting was
monotonous work. Edgar worked hard and gravely, but was so slow that
for the most part the grouse were out of sight before he fired. Mr.
Fussell did better, and attributed every failure to bring down his
bird to his 'd----d glasses,' upon which Fabian hastened to ask him if
he meant the glasses of the night before.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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