24 BEGGARS ON HORSEBACK. 



from our feet, and there slackened as there came 

 into view a cart drawn by four giant horses with 

 solemn bowed heads and huge legs that gave 

 them the effect of wearing sailor's trousers, tight 

 at the knee and full at the ankle. The trunk of 

 a great elm lay on the cart, a "vibrating star," 

 as George Eliot has described the prone advance 

 of such another tree, and on top of it sat a man 

 in a blue linen coat, looking as unimportant as 

 a squirrel in relation to the mammoth creatures 

 who were accepting his authority. We looked 

 at him with respect as the quivering bole of the 

 elm-tree drew slowly level with us, but he regarded 

 us not at all. His gaze was fixed on my hold-all, 

 from whose gaping mouth, as we suddenly became 

 aware, a sponge-bag and the spout of the tea-kettle 

 were protruding. 



" Hoy ! " said the carter, pointing with his 

 brass-ringed whip at something on the road 

 behind us. 



It was Miss O'Flannigan's india-rubber cup, a 

 noisome vessel from which she indifferently partook 



