214 MB. SPONGE'S SPOUTING TOUR. 



lishment died as often as old Mantalini himself. Every season 

 that came to a close was proclaimed to be their last, but somehow 

 or other they always managed to scramble into existence on the 

 approach of another. It is a way, indeed, that delicate packs have 

 of recruiting their finances. Nevertheless, the Mangeysternes did 

 look very like coming to an end about the time that Mr. Puffington 

 bought Hanby House. The saddler huntsman had failed ; John 

 Doehad taken one of his screws, and Richard Roe the other, and 

 anybody might have the hounds that liked : Puffington then 

 turned up. 



Great was the joy diffused throughout the Mangeysterne 

 country when it transpired, through the medium of his valet, Louis 

 Bergamotte, that " his lor' had beaucoup habit rouge " in his 

 wardrobe. Not only habit rouge, but habit blue and buff, that he 

 used to sport with " Old Beaufort " and the Badminton hunt — 

 coats that he certainly had no chance of ever getting into again, 

 but still which he kept as memorials of the past — souvenirs of the 

 days when he was young and slim. The bottle-conjurer could just 

 as soon have got into his quart bottle as Puff could into the 

 Beaufort coat at the time of which we arc writing. The intelligence 

 of their existence was quickly followed by the aforesaid fifty-pound 

 cheque. A meeting of the Mangeysterne hunt was called at the 

 sign of the Thirsty Freeman in Swillingford — Sir Charles Figgs, 

 Knight — a large-promising but badly-paying subscriber — in the 

 chair, when it was proposed and carried unanimously that Mr. 

 Puffington was eminently qualified for the mastership of the hunt, 

 and that it be offered to him accordingly. Puff " bit." He 

 recalled his early exploits with " Mostyn and old Beaufort," and 

 resolved that the hunt had taken a right view of his abilities. In 

 coming to this decision he, perhaps, was not altogether uninfluenced 

 by a plausible subscription list, which seemed about equal to the 

 ordinary expenses, supposing that any reliance could be placed on 

 the figures and calculations of Sir Charles. All those, however, 

 who have had anything to do with subscription lists — and in these 

 days of universal testimonialising who has not ? — well know that 

 pounds upon paper and pounds in the pocket are very different 

 things. Above all Puff felt that he was a new man in the country, 

 and that taking the hounds would give him weight. 



The " Mangeysterne dogs " then begnn to " look up ; " Mr. 

 Puffington took to them in earnest ; bought a " Beckford," and 

 shortened his military stirrups to a hunting seat. 



