XVI. NO EXTRAS 166 XVII. SELF-DEFENCE 178 XVIII. AH ME! 189 XIX. COMFORT 199 XX. BOIL NO MORE 209 XXI. THE SEAT OF LEARNING 219 XXII. HEREDITARY LAWS 229 XXIII. A COUNTY MEETING 237 XXIV. OLD BONES, AND YOUNG ONES 247 XXV. ON THE ROCKS 256 XXVI. BENEATH THEM 266 XXVII. PLEASANT, AND UNPLEASANT THINGS 277 XXVIII. THE WELFARE OF THE FAMILY 286 XXIX. BECAUSE HE HAD NO PITY 295 XXX. PERFIDY 303 XXXI. FREE TRADE 314 XXXII. A PAIR OF BLUE EYES 326 XXXIII. STRONG INTENTIONS 338 XXXIV. _FAMES FAMÆ_ 350 XXXV. NATIONAL EMERGENCY 362 XXXVI. VOTE FOR TOMMY! 371 XXXVII. SUNNY BAY 379 XXXVIII. PREPARE 386 XXXIX. FOR PUBLIC AND PRIVATE BENEFIT 393 XL. FAIR COUNSEL 398 XLI. THE RIGHT WAY TO SURRENDER 406 XLII. SPARS 415 XLIII. THE BATTLE, AND THE BREEZE 421 XLIV. THE ENGLISH LION 435 TOMMY UPMORE. CHAPTER I. SIGNS OF EMINENCE. If I know anything of mankind, one of them needs but speak the truth to secure the attention of the rest, amazed as they are at a feat so far beyond their own power and experience. And I would not have troubled any one's attention, if I could only have been let alone, and not ferreted as a phenomenon. When the facts, which I shall now relate, were fresh and vivid in the public mind, it might have been worth twenty guineas to me to set them in order and publish them. Such curiosity, then, was felt, and so much of the purest science talked, about my "abnormal organism," that nine, or indeed I may say ten, of the leading British publishers went so far as to offer me £20,[1] with a chance of five dollars from America, if I would only write my history! But when a man is in full swing of his doings and his sufferings, how can he stop to set them down, for the pleasure of other people? And even now, when, if I only tried, I could do almost as much as ever, it is not with my own consent that you get this narrative out of me. How that comes to pass, you shall see hereafter.