MM. SPONGE'S SPORTING TOUR. 



179 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



TIIE FINEST RUN THAT EVER WAS SEEN ! 



00— HAY, Jack! Hoo- 

 _____^ ray ! " exclaimed 

 U^mm Lord Scamperdale, 

 Vy bursting into his 



sanctum, where Mr. 

 Spraggon sat 

 in his hunting 

 coat and slip- 

 pers, spelling 

 away at a 

 second - hand 

 copy of BeWs 

 Life by the 

 light of a me- 

 lancholy mould 

 candle. " Hoo- 

 ray, Jack ! hoo- 

 ray ! *' repeated 

 he, waving that 

 proud trophy, 

 a splendid fox's 

 brush, over his 

 grizzly head. 



His lordship 

 was the picture 

 over! of delight. He 



had had a 

 tremendous run — the finest run that ever was seen ! His hounds 

 had behaved to perfection ; his horse — though he had downed 

 him three times — had carried him well, and his lordship stood 

 with his crownless flat hat in his hand, and one coat lap in the 

 pocket of the other — a grinning, exulting, self-satisfied specimen 

 of a happy Englishman. 



" Lor ! what a sight you are ! " observed Jack, turning the 

 light of the candle upon his lordship's dirty person. "Why, I 

 declare you're an inch thick with mud," he added : " mud from 

 head to foot," he continued, working the light up and down. 



"Never mind the mud, you old badger ! " roared his lordship, 

 still waving the brush over his head : " never mind the mud, you 



