48 



Tom. — " Port, if you please, sir." 



" There it is for you, then," said Mr. Waffles, brimming the Fox's 

 head, which held about the third of a bottle (an inn bottle at least) 

 and handing it to him. 



" Gentlemen all," said Tom, passing his sleeve across his mouth, 

 and casting a side-long glance at the company as he raised the cup to 

 drink their healths. 



He quaffed it off at a draught. 



" Well, Tom, and what shall we do to-morrow ? " asked Mr. 

 Waffles, as Tom replaced the Fox's head, nose uppermost, on the 

 table. 



"Why, we must draw Ribston Wood fust, I 'spose," replied Tom, 

 " and then on to Bradwell-grove, unless you thought well of tryin' 

 Chesterton-common on the road, or " 



"Aye, aye," interrupted Waffles, "I know all that; but what 

 I want to know is, whether we can make sure of a run. We want 

 to give this great metropolitan swell a benefit. You know who I 

 mean ? " 



" The gen'leman as is com'd to the Brunswick, I 'spose," replied 

 Tom ; " at least, as is comin', for I've not heard that he's com'd 



yet." 



" Oh, but he has" replied Mr. Waffles, " and I make no doubt 

 will be out to-morrow." 



" S — o — o," observed Tom, in a long drawled note. 



" Well, now ! do you think you can engage to give us a run ? " 

 asked Mr. Waffles, seeing his huntsman did not seem inclined to help 

 him to his point. 



" I'll do my best," replied Tom, cautiously running the many 

 contingencies through his mind. 



" Take another drop of something," said Mr. Waffles, again rais- 

 ing the Fox's head. " What'll you have ? " 



" Port, if you please," replied Tom. 



" There," said Mr. Waffles, handing him another bumper; " drink 

 Fox-hunting." 



" Fox-lmntin'," said old Tom, quaffing off the measure, as before. 

 A flush of life came into his weather-beaten face, just as a glow of 

 heat enlivens a blacksmith's hearth, after a touch of the bellows. 



" You must never let this bumptious cock beat us," observed 

 Mr. Waffles. 



" No — o — o," replied Tom, adding, " there's no fear of that." 



" But he swears he will ! " exclaimed Mr. Caingey Thornton. 

 " He swears there isn't a man shall come within a field of him." 



" Indeed," observed Tom, with a twinkle of his little bright eyes. 



" I tell you what, Tom," observed Mr. Waffles, " we must sarve 

 him out, somehow." 



