30 THE LIFE OF A EACEnOESE. 



tenclii-)g to be busily occupied about me, but from the roguisli 

 twinkle in liis eyes I could perceive that his thoughts were 

 still occupied in taking "a rise" out of Spanky. "There's 

 nothing like a good start," repeated he; "jump off as the flag 

 drops, take the lead, keep it, and win in a common trot. 

 That's the way to do it!" 



" Now I tell you what it is, my fine feller," said Spanky, 

 placing his knuckles upon his hips, and looking from the com- 

 pressed state of his lips and flushed cheeks, that his indigna- 

 tion had been whipped to a froth, "this innercence won't do 

 for me. I'm head lad in this stable, and have the ordering 

 and licking o' the whole lot o' lads under me. I get my orders 

 from master, you get yourn from me ; and if so be hisn an't 

 o-beyed, just as he gave 'em, he kicks me, and I kicks you. 

 Do ye understand ?" 



Harry thought it advisable not to assume a lengthened 

 ignorance, which sat uneasily upon him from the first, and ad- 

 mitted that he was no longer blind to the responsibilities and 

 deference due to Spanky's office. 



This well-timed admission soothed the irritability of my 

 attendant's monitor, and he continued : — 



" You don't come from a bad. school. Eobert Top knows 

 what the doolies of a lad are, and I've no doubt he's kejDt your 

 toe to the crease, my fine feller. But belonging to the family 

 of the Sharps, I see, I'll take amazing care you haven't a single 

 peg to hang a shirk on." 



" Thankee, sir," replied Harry, with doubtful politeness, as 

 he raised a finger and thumb in the direction of the duck's taiL 



Spanky's face bore a deeper crimson at this suspicious ac- 

 knowledgment, and he again measured Harry with a severe 

 aspect, and, for a few seconds, in unbroken silence. 



During the temporary pause, perhaps I cannot fill up the 

 gap better than by giving a personal description of Spanky. 

 The capacity of head lad conveys no criterion of the age of 

 the oflicial— as, once head lad, such he will remain, perhaps, to 

 the last day of a prolonged existence. Now, although far from 



