The 'Open Air'
to the first Duke of Wellington. As the singing proceeded, the scornful expression faded from the visage of the Semi-Drunk, and he not only joined in, but unfolded his arms and began waving them about as if he were conducting the music.
By the time the singing was over a considerable crowd had gathered, and then Hunter stepped into the middle of the ring. He had evidently been offended by the unseemly conduct of the two well-dressed young men, for after a preliminary glance round upon the crowd, he fixed his gaze upon the pair, and immediately launched out upon a long tirade against what he called 'Infidelity.' Then, having heartily denounced all those who, as he put it, 'refused' to believe, he proceeded to ridicule those half-and-half believers who, while professing to believe the Bible, rejected the doctrine of Hell, and finally proved the existence of a place of eternal torture by a long succession of texts. As he proceeded the contemptuous laughter of the two unbelievers made him very excited. He shouted and raved, literally foaming at the mouth and glaring in a frenzied manner around, upon the faces of the crowd,
'There is a hell!' he shouted. 'And understand this clearly: "The wicked shall be turned into hell"; "He that believeth not shall be damned!"'
'Well, then, you'll stand a very good chance of being damned also,' exclaimed one of the two young men.
''Ow do you make it out?' demanded Hunter, wiping the froth from his lips and the perspiration from his forehead with his handkerchief.
'Why, because you don't believe the Bible yourselves.'
Nimrod and the other evangelists laughed, and looked pityingly at the young man.
'Ah, my dear brother,' said Misery, 'that's your delusion. I thank God I do believe it, every word!'
'Amen,' fervently ejaculated Slyme and several of the other disciples.
'Oh no you don't,' replied the other, 'and I can prove you don't.'
'Prove it then,' said Nimrod.
'Read out the seventeenth and eighteenth verses of the sixteenth chapter of Mark,' said the disturber of the meeting. The crowd began to close in on the centre, the better to hear the dispute. Misery, standing close to the lantern, found the verse mentioned and read aloud as follows:
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