A TROT, AND A DINNER PARTY. 69 



less of distress, or any defect in their wind, bone, or 

 sinew. 



The next moment they were suiTOimded by a crowd 

 of eager and animated inquirers, some begging to be 

 introduced to the owner of the wonders, some all agog 

 to know their history, their local habitation, and their 

 name ; som^j earnest to learn what the time had been, 

 whereby to solve the question of the "ponies," the 

 "fifties," and the "hundreds" which had been liber- 

 ally bandied to and fro and the result, and all agreed 

 on one point, that never before had such trotting been 

 seen in England. 



" "What was the time, Ches ?" cried young Peyton, 

 one of the best judges of pace in the United Kingdom ; 

 " was it a match against time ?" 



"Nothing of the sort — only a spurt, to show us 

 what they could do." 



" The devil !— and what did they do ?" 



" You must asTv Beaufort, he kept the time. Some- 

 thing better than a mile within three minutes." 



"Oh, you be hanged!" cried coarse Jardinier; 

 "why that's fifteen miles an hour almost, ain't it?" 



" Almost, Jardinier," shouted Tom Gascoigne. 

 " Yes, a mile in three minutes is almost fifteen miles 

 an hour. Three times fifteen is sixty-one, you know ; 

 and there are just sixty minutes in the hour." 



" There, did not I tell you so, A^auxhall," said Jar- 

 dinier, triumphantly to his companion, who was laugh- 

 ing at him. " Did not I tell you it was almost fif- 

 teen." 



" Didn't they teach 'rithmetic as well as reading 

 and 'riting at the Charter-liouse, Jardiner," asked Ce- 

 cil Forrester, almost splitting his sides at the hard- 

 riding viscount's magnificence of snobbish ignorance. 



" Confound the Charter-house !" responded Jardi- 

 nier sulkily ; " who the deuce knows what they do ? 1 



