HOW THE COACH PASSENGERS FARED 339 



match with the cokl) to the office from which the 

 'Wonder,' 'Telegraph,' 'Regulator,' 'Highflyer,' 

 or ' Independent ' started ; then you were hurried 

 over your meals, as the following account will 

 show : — 



" ' Twenty minutes allowed here, gentlemen, 

 for dinner,' exclaims the coachman, as we drive 

 up to the ' Bull ' at Smallborough. 



" What a scene of confusion ensued ! Bells 

 rang, ostlers halloed, Avaiters ran, or rather broke 

 into that shambling shuflie whose secret seems 

 to be known only to those who ' stand and wait ' — 

 at least, no other creature practises it. 



" ' Please to alight, ladies and gentlemen,' 

 exclaims the landlord, addressing the four insides ; 

 while the ostler, bringing a somewhat crazy ladder, 

 makes a similar request to the eleven outsides. 



"The day has been a miserable specimen : 

 incessant rain, with a biting easterly wind, giving 

 an inappropriately jocose gentleman the oppor- 

 tunity of offering facetious remarks upon ' heavy 

 wet,' and 'cold without.' You enter the best 

 parlour of the inn, anticipating a warm welcome 

 and a share in those creature comforts looked 

 forward to in such circumstances by all. But 

 here the legal axiom, that ' possession is nine 

 points of the law,' is realised to your horror and 

 dismay in a sight of the first-comers on an earlier 

 coach occupying every seat near the fire ; while 

 a tablecloth covered with fragments, and a dis- 

 array of empty glasses tell a tale of another 

 dinner having recently been ' polished off.' 



