137 



monument to your memory, declaring you were the most spotless 

 virtuous man under the sun." 



" Let me off dining with Jaw, and I'll do my best," replied Jack. 



" Done! " screamed his lordship, flourishing his right arm in the 

 air, as he flew over a great stone wall. 



A good many of the horses and sportsmen too had had enough 

 before the hounds checked ; and the quick way Frosty lifted them 

 and hit off the scent, did not give them much time to recruit. Many 

 of them now sat, hand in hand, mopping, and puffing, and turning 

 their red perspiring faces to the wind. " PoougJi" gasped one, as if 

 he was going to be sick; " Puff," went another ; " Oh ! but its 'ot ! " 

 exclaimed a third, pulling off his limp neckcloth ; "Wonder if there's 

 any ale hereabouts," cried a fourth ; " Terrible run ! " observed a 

 fifth ; " Ten miles at least," gasped another. Meanwhile the hounds 

 went streaming on ; and it is wonderful how soon those who don't 

 follow are left hopelessly in the rear. 



Of the few that did follow, Mr. Sponge, however, was one. 

 Nothing daunted by the compliments that had been paid him, he got 

 Hercules well in hand ; and the horse dropping again on the bit, re- 

 sumed his place in front, going as strong and steadily as ever. Thus 

 he went, throwing the mud in the faces of those behind, regardless of 

 the oaths and imprecations that followed ; Sponge knowing full well 

 they would do the same by him if they could. 



" All jealousy," said Sponge, spurring his horse. " Never saw 

 such a jealous set of dogs in my life." 



An accommodating lane soon presented itself, along which they 

 all pounded, with the hounds running parallel through the enclosures 

 on the left ; Sponge sending such volleys of pebbles and mud in his 

 rear as made it advisable to keep a good way behind him. The line 

 was now apparently for Firlingham Woods ; but on nearing the 

 thatched cottage on Gasper Heath, the fox, most likely being headed, 

 had turned short to the right ; and the chase now lay over Sheeplow 

 Water meadows, and so on to Bolsover brick-fields, when the pack 

 again changed from hunting to racing, and the pace for a time was 

 severe. His lordship having got Jiis second horse at the turn, was 

 ready for the tussle, and plied away vigorously, riding, as usual, with 

 all his heart, with all his mind, with all his soul, and with all his 

 strength ; while Jack, still on the grey, came plodding diligently along 

 in the rear, saving his horse as much as he could. His lordship charged 

 a stiff flight of rails in the brick-fields, while Jack, thinking to save 

 his, rode at a weak place in the fence, a little higher up, and in an 

 instant was souse overhead in a clay-hole. 



" Duck under, Jack ! duck under ! " screamed his lordship, as 

 Jack's head rose to the surface. "Duck under ! you'll have it full 

 directly ! " added he, eyeing Sponge and the rest coming up. 



Sponge, however, saw the splash, and turning a little lower down, 



