MR. SPONGE'S SPORTING TOUR. 145 



" He l>e ," grunted Jack. 



"Ah, it's all very well for you to say 'he be this ' and 'he he 

 that,' but I can tell you what, that fellow is going to be a very 

 awkward customer — a terrible thorn in my side." 



" Humnh ! " grunted Jack, who didn't see how, 



" There's mischief about that fellow," continued his lordship, 

 pouring himself out half a tumbler of gin, and filling it up with 

 water. " There's mischief about the fellow. I don't like his looks 

 — I don't like his coat — I don't like his boots — I don't like any- 

 thing about him. I'd rather 6ee the back of him than the front. 

 He must be got rid of," added his lordship. 



"Well, I did my best to-day, I'm sure," replied Jack. " I was 

 deuced near wanting the patent coffin you were so good as to 

 promise me." 



" You did your work well" replied his lordship ; " you did your 

 work well ; and you shall have my other specs till I can get you a 

 new pair from town ; and if you'll serve me again, I'll remember 

 you in my will — I'll leave you something handsome." 



" I'm your man," replied Jack. 



" I never was so bothered with a fellow in my life," observed 

 his lordship. " Captain Topsawyer was bad enough, and always 

 pressed far too close on the hounds, but he would pull up at a 

 check ; but this rusty booted 'bomination seems to think the 

 hounds are kept for him to ride over. He must be got rid of 

 somehow," repeated his lordship ; " for we shall have no peace while 

 he's here." 



" If he's after either of the Jawley girls, he'll be bad to shake 

 off," observed Jack. 



"That's just the point," replied his lordship, quaffing off his 

 gin w T ith the air of a man most thoroughly thirsty ; " that's 

 just the pont," repeated he, setting down his tumbler. " I think 

 if he is, I c<>uld cook his goose for him." 



" How so ? " asked Jack, drinking off his glass. 



"Why, I'll tell you," replied his lordship, replenishing his 

 tumbler, and passing the old gilt-labelled blue bottle over to 

 Jack ; " you see, Frosty's a cunning old file, picks up all the news 

 and gossip of the country when he's out at exercise with the 

 hounds, or in going to cover — knows everything ! — who licks his 

 wife, and whose wife licks him — who's after such a girl, and so on; 

 — and he's found out somehow that this Mi. What's-his-name 

 isn't the man of metal he's passing for." 



" Indeed," exclaimed Jack, raising his eyebrows, and squinting 

 his eyes inside out ; Jack's opinion of a man being entirely regu- 

 lated by his purse. 



" It's a fact," said his lordship, with a knowing shake of his 

 head. "As we were toddling home with the hounds, I said to 



