Regarding the circumstances from a purely personal point of view, I could not altogether regret this cheerless commencement of the “hopping,” as it disclosed to me a somewhat different phase of Romany life. I had lived among them in bright weather and in dull, but never before had I fraternized with them under more depressing conditions. So dismal was it that even the camp fire was unable to sustain its reputation for cheeriness, so we turned in early, and for some time after could hear men and women returning from their belated shopping; occasionally an uncertain top-heavy step passing the tent would publish the fact that a call had been made at the kitchema—in order, we will charitably suppose, to “wait till the clouds rolled by.” The angry voices of the stragglers who brought up the rear were silenced as the heavy rain drove them home. As I lay in bed I could feel the rain falling on my face in fine spray, and before I could get to sleep a crane-fly settled on my ear, while another danced about my chin compelling me to get up and stop their antics; again I sought repose but had not lost consciousness when a dor-beetle, which had got into the tent, flew around with a deep hum, struck something with a smack and subsided suddenly; as I did not anticipate a repetition of this performance, I left it to its own devices, but think I did not fall asleep until the last gypsy had turned in. I slept fitfully and remember being awake long enough once during the night to notice the twinkling of the stars through the minute openings in the canvas overhead. Before sunrise I was awakened by the scratching of a fowl on the outside of my tent, of which it seemed to be making an ascent in order to herald the new day; at the critical moment, however, he appeared to lose his hold, and with a good deal of fluttering descended to the ground and contented himself with crowing lustily as he ambled around the tent, an achievement that made me wish to throw things. Once fairly awake, further sleep was impossible, and I found my clothes, which I had placed on the bed for additional warmth, quite damp from the rain which, in the earlier part of the night, had been driven into the tent in the form of mist. As I did not feel anxious to rise for yet another hour or two, I secured pen and paper, and by propping myself up in bed was enabled to watch the daybreak and the waking camp through an opening in the flap of the tent.