Alas, poor puppy! He was hailed as "Sextus," and bade "welcome" by the bold Roman, who forthwith charged upon him, and drove him round and round the grove till he sought safety and protection in the lap of Lars Porsena herself.

Then the bridge came down, and Horatius, climbing nimbly to the top of the rock, apostrophized his Father Tiber, sheathed his good sword by his side (_i.e._, rammed his stick into and _through_ his breeches pocket), and with his jacket on his back plunged headlong in the tide, and swam valiantly across the pine-strewn surface of the little glade.
Bubble's performance was much applauded by the two girls, who, in the characters of Lars Porsena and Mamilius, "Prince of the Latian name," had surveyed the whole with dignified amazement.

And when the boy, exhausted with his heroic exertions, threw himself down on the pine-needles and begged "Miss Hildy" to sing to them, she readily consented, and sang "Jock o' Hazeldean" and "Come o'er the stream, Charlie!" so sweetly that the little fat birds sat still on the branches to listen.

A faint glow stole into Pink's wan cheek, and her blue eyes sparkled with pleasure; while Bubble bobbed his head, and testified his delight by drumming with his heels on the ground and begging for more.
"A ballid now, Miss Hildy, please," he cried.
"Well," said Hildegarde, nothing loth, "what shall it be ?" "One with some fightin' in it," replied Bubble, promptly.
So Hildegarde began:-- "Down Deeside cam Inverey, Whistling and playing; He's lighted at Brackley gates At the day's dawing." And went on to tell of the murder of "bonnie Brackley" and of the treachery of his young wife:-- "There's grief in the kitchen, And mirth in the ha'; But the Baron o' Brackley Is dead and awa'." So the ballad ended, leaving Bubble full of sanguinary desires anent the descendants of the false Inverey.

"I--I--I'd like jest to git holt o' some o' them fellers!" he exclaimed.