[Illustration: Umgh-umgh! {The same clef as the previous illustration.}] CHAPTER XXXI. It was a match to the mine, that umgh-umgh eulogistic, and the explosion was tremendous; for my grandfather’s toddy-bowl, though wide and deep, was now nearly empty. In an instant every man was on his feet, cheering at the top of his voice. Such hats as were available, seized without regard to ownership, were frantically whirling in the air; tumblers went round in dizzy circles; centrifugal toddy was splashing in every direction; while the rear ranks of the colored cohorts were scrambling over the backs of those in front, to catch a glimpse of the scene. In the midst of it all, the honest Herr was to be seen rushing to and fro, lustily shouting out some proposition as to the health of the stranger. He was brandishing his goblet, which he had managed to fill, notwithstanding the confusion, and offering to chink glasses with any and all comers, when, as ill luck would have it, he ran into one of the students as enthusiastic as himself, and the twain suddenly found themselves holding in their hands nothing but the stems of their goblets. “Ah, mein freund,” said he, with a glance at his soaked shirt-front, “vot for a poonch vas dat!” “Very good, very good!” cried the student, with a rousing slap on his shoulder; for a vague feeling came over the young man that one of the Herr’s puns was lurking somewhere in the mist. But the most striking figure in tableau No. 2 was that of my grandfather. As soon as Uncle Dick’s applauding grunt had broken the spell that held the company, and while all were cheering lustily, he rushed up to the Don, and placed his hands in an impressive way on his shoulders. The cheering suddenly ceased, and all listened intently save the Herr and his student, who, having found fresh tumblers, were busy scooping up the last of the punch. “My friend,” said my grandfather, “Charley and I are but two in this big house,”—and there was a simple pathos in his manner and tones.—“Won’t you live with us—for good?” Tremendous applause greeted this rather thorough-going invitation; and tableau No. 2 dissolved in confusion; in the midst of which stood the Don, bowing and laughing, and wisely holding high above his head the precious violin. “Ah, dere spoke de Barrone!” quoth the Herr, balancing himself, and clinking half-filled glasses with his student. “Good for Uncle Tom!” echoed the latter. “So!” chimed in the Herr, blinking at the ceiling through the bottom of his tumbler. “I am in downright earnest, I assure you,” urged Mr. Whacker, on remarking the pleased merriment of the Don. “Eh, Charley?” “So say we all of us!” said Charley, with jovial earnestness, and shaking, with great cordiality, the stranger’s right hand, whence I had removed the bow.