CAPTAIN SHABBYHOUNDE 241 



not sorry to transfer the further discussion to the Captain 

 if he was inclined to accept of the boon. Accordingly they 

 appealed to him for his opinion of protection, and the Captain 

 prolonging a draw at his cigar — that most convenient of all 

 idea furnishers — drawled out at length, as he watched the 

 upward curl of smoke rise above his nose, that he thought 

 repeal would bring down prices. 



" But," continued he, after a pause, during which he 

 adjusted the end of the cigar, " \'ou great landowners should 

 know these things much better than me." 



Piggy had now got near hand, and after a snort and semi- 

 circular dart on meeting the hounds, had adopted the grass 

 siding of the road, and was advancing in that sort of retro- 

 grading way that makes one congratulate oneself upon not 

 being a pig-driver. 



" It will bring down the price of bacon, too," observed the 

 Captain, eyeing the bristling little beggar as it squeaked and 

 tugged at the cord. "There's a nice little pig," continued he, 

 pointing it out to Pappington, " What price would you set 

 upon it ? " 



Pappington looked at it with a most sagacious eye, as if he 

 was in the habit of valuing whole droves every day. 



" Thirty shillings," said he, with the greatest confidence. 

 " What do you say, Mr. Brown ? " asked the Captain. 



" I say five-and-twenty," replied Brown. 



" Let us make a sovereign sweepstakes," said the Captain, 

 " for the nearest guesser." 



" Done," rejoined Pappington. 



" Will you be in ? " asked the Captain of Sam Tubbs, who 

 was just passing, to whom he explained the purport of the 

 venture. 



Tubbs, who was a judge of pigs, joined and priced the pig at 

 four-and-twenty shillings. 



The Captain guessed three-and-twenty. 



R 



