64 mr. sponge's sporting tour. 



" I think he is," replied Sponge, rubbing some of the now dried 

 sweat from his shoulder and neck ; " I think he is; I like him a good 

 deal better to-day than I did the first time I rode him." 



" What, he's a new one, is he ? " asked Mr. Waffles, taking a 

 scented cigar from his mouth, and giving a steady sidelong stare at 

 the horse. 



" Bought him in Leicestershire," replied Sponge. " He belonged 

 to Lord Bullfrog, who didn't think him exactly up to his weight." 



" Up to his weight ! " exclaimed Mr. Caingey Thornton, who had 

 now ridden up on the other side of his great patron, " why, he must 

 be another Daniel Lambert." 



" Rather so," replied Mr. Sponge; "rides nineteen stun." 



" What a monster ! " exclaimed Thornton, who was of the pocket 

 order. 



" I thought he didn't go fast enough at his fences the first time I 

 rode him," observed Mr. Sponge, drawing the curb slightly so as to 

 show the horse's fine arch neck to advantage ; " but he went quick 

 enough to-day, in all conscience," added he. 



" He did that," observed Mr. Thornton, now bent on a toadying 

 match. " I never saw a finer lepper." 



" He flew many feet beyond the brook," observed Mr. Spareneck, 

 who, thinking discretion was the better part of valour, had pulled 

 up on seeing his comrade Thornton blobbing about in the middle of 

 it, and therefore jvas qualified to speak to the fact. 



So they went on talking about the horse, and his points, and his 

 speed, and his action, very likely as much for want of something to 

 say, or to keep off the subject of the run, as from any real admiration 

 of the animal. 



The true way to make a man take a fancy to a horse is to make 

 believe that you don't want to sell him — at all events, that you are 

 easy about selling. Mr. Sponge had played this game so very often, 

 that it came quite natural to him. He knew exactly how far to go, 

 and having expressed his previous objection to the horse, he now most 

 handsomely made the amende honorable by patting him on the neck, 

 and declaring that he really thought he should keep him. 



It is said that every man has his weak or " do-able " point, if the 

 sharp ones can but discover it. This observation does not refer, we 

 believe, to men with an innocent penchant for play, or the turf, or for 

 buying pictures, or for collecting china, or for driving coaches and 

 four, all of which tastes proclaim themselves sooner or later ; but 

 means that the most knowing, the most cautious, and the most care- 

 ful, are all to be come over, somehow or another. 



There are few things more surprising in this remarkable world 

 than the magnificent way people talk about money, or the meannesses 

 they will resort to in order to get a little. We hear fellows flashing 

 and talking in hundreds and thousands, who will do almost anything 



