Sure enough, there was a young heifer lying on its side, with the unmistakable deep pits where the jaws of the panther had gripped its throat, and a gory cavity where it had selected a gigot for its dinner.

The silky black line that just marked the curve of his upper lip gave promise of a splendid moustache; his closely crisped black hair was but just visible below the rim of his jaunty straw hat, the band of which was a tasselled cord of crimson silk; while his lithe figure was suggested rather than displayed by the waving lines of his loose brown jacket with tapering gigot sleeves.

But our author is so cunning in the qualities of muttonwhich, as we have already seen, he can "kill so gently," performing the operation without painthat we think our readers will enjoy the following passage: "The gigot is the handsomest and most valuable part of the carcass, and on that account fetches the highest price.

A gigot of Leicester, Cheviot, or Southdown mutton makes a beautiful 'boiled leg of mutton,' which is prized the more the fatter it is, as this part of the carcass is never overloaded with fat.

One curious point is brought out here in the phrase "boiled jiggets of mutton," which shews that the French gigot for a leg of mutton was formerly in use here.

A leg of mutton was always, with old-fashioned Scotch people, a gigot (Fr. gigot).

A leg of mutton was always, with old-fashioned Scotch people, a gigot (Fr. gigot).

Gigot (of mutton) ... " Gigot.

Gigot (of mutton) ... " Gigot.