HORNS, HOLLOAS, DOG LANGUAGE 93 



Sponge, in order to account for the knowledge of the 

 huntsman's art which that worthy possessed in such 

 an eminent degree. " For," said my friend, " one 

 would hardly imagine that a man whose principal 

 residence appears to have been the Bantam Hotel, in 

 Bond Street, and whose chief study was ' Moggs' cab 

 fares,' would be able to take hold of a pack of fox- 

 hounds and hunt them in a style worthy of the great 

 Will Goodall himself." 



Where did he learn to use the horn he took from 

 Sir Harry Scattercash's huntsman, when he heard by 

 the " hammering and pincering " of that individual's 

 horse "that it was all U.P. with him?" And who 

 taught him the dog-language he used so efficaciously 

 in making his celebrated cast when the fair Lucy 

 Glitters turned the pack to him? 



" ' Put 'em to me,' said Mr. Sponge, giving Miss Glitters his 

 whip ; ' put 'em to me 1 ' said he, hallooing, ' Yor-geot, hounds ! — Yor- 

 geot I ' which, being interpreted means ' here again, hounds ! — here 

 again ! ' 



" ' Oh, the concited beggar,' exclaimed Mr. Watchorn to himself 

 as, disappointed of his finish, he sat feeling his nose and mopping his 

 face and watching the proceedings. ' Oh, the concited beggar I ' 

 repeated he, adding ' Old 'hogany bouts is a6-solutely goin' to kest 

 them.' 



" Cast them, however, he did, proceeding very cautiously in the direc- 

 tion the hounds seemed to lean. They were on a piece of cold scenting 

 ground, across which they could hardly own the scent. 



"'Don't hurry 'em,' cried Mr. Sponge to Miss Glitters, who was 

 acting whipper-in with rather unnecessary vigour. 



"As they got under the lee of the hedge, the scent improved a Uttle, 

 and from an occasional feathering stern a hound or two indulged in a 

 whimper, until at last they fairly broke into a cry. 



" ' I'll lose a shoe,' said Watchorn to himself, looking first at the 

 formidable leap before him, and then to see if there was any one coming 



