24 STABLE SECRETS. 



of resisting the impulse of thus expressing his sentiments upon 

 the duplicity of the base Matilda. 



"Sweety," continued the head lad of the Great Stable of 

 the North, " took advantage of her weakness, and for a time 

 played a pretty little game by putting us all in the hole. /," 

 said George Spindles, emphatically, " nearly came to grief 

 altogether." 



Puffy Doddles felt extremely pleased that his approach to 

 sorrow was not of a closer description, and expressed himself so 

 with the utmost sincerity. 



" It's all over now," added the head lad of the Great Stable 

 of the North, with a deeply-drawn sigh ; " but it took a long 

 time to get it over, I can tell ye. But come," continued he, 

 with marked alteration in tone and manner, " your 'oss wants 

 looking after. It's feed time." 



Puffy Doddles exhibited a prompt inclination to relieve the 

 immediate wants of his horse, whatever they might be, and 

 hastened with a nimble tread towards the box in which stood 

 " the best two-year-old out" — Sunshine. 



CHAPTER IY. 



It was not an easy seat. The bottom of a stable-pail never 

 was, and never can be made, an easy seat. There is no rest for 

 the vertebrae of the spine for " the forked animal, walking erect 

 and eating cooked viands," when sitting on the bottom of a 

 stable-pail. He has nothing upon which to rest his elbows, 

 excepting the contracted surface of his knees, and these acting 

 as points against points, geometrically described as parts 

 without magnitude, render the angle to be of the most acute 

 form, not to say slippery. There is barely sufficient space for 

 stretching out his legs, from the want of length, breadth, and 

 depth of his common centre — if such it may be called ; and, 



