166 mk. sponge's sporting tour. 



" Beg pardon, sir, replied Spigot, " but the cook, sir, is gone to 

 bed, sir. Do you know, sir, what o'clock it is, sir ? " 



" No/' replied Jack. 



11 What time is it ? " asked Sponge. 



" Twenty minutes to two," replied Spigot, holding up a sort of 

 pocket warming-pan, which he called a watch. 



" The deuce ! " exclaimed Sponge. 



" Who'd ha' thought it ? " muttered Jack. 



" Well, then, I suppose we may as well go to bed," observed 

 Sponge. 



" S'pose so," replied Jack ; " nothin' more to get." 



" Do you know your room ? " asked Sponge. 



" To be sure I do," replied Jack ; " don't think I'm d — d — dr — 

 drunk, do you ? " 



" Not likely," rejoined Sponge. 



Jack then commenced a very crab-like ascent of the stairs, which 

 fortunately were easy, or he would never have got up. Mr. Sponge, 

 who still occupied the state apartments, took leave of Jack at his 

 own door, and Jack went bumping and blundering on in search of 

 the branch passage leading to his piggery. He found the green baize 

 door that usually distinguishes the entrance to these secondary suites, 

 and was presently lurching along its contracted passage. As luck 

 would have it, however, he got into his host's dressing-room, where 

 that worthy slept ; and when Jawleyford jumped up in the morning, 

 as was his wont, to see what sort of a day it was, he trod on Jack's 

 face, who had fallen down in his clothes alongside of the bed, and 

 Jawleyford broke Jack's spectacles across the bridge of his nose. 



" Rot it! " roared Jack, jumping up, " don't ride over a fellow 

 that way ! " when, shaking himself to try whether any limbs were 

 broken, he found he was in his dress clothes instead of in the roomy 

 garments of the Flat Hat Hunt. " Who are you ? where am I ? 

 what the deuce do you mean by breaking my specs ? " he exclaimed, 

 squinting frightfully at his host. 



" My dear sir," exclaimed Mr. Jawleyford, from the top of his 

 nightshirt, " I'm very sorry, but — 



" Hang your bids ! you shouldn't ride so near a man ! " exclaimed 

 Jack, gathering up the fragments of his spectacles ; when, recollect- 

 ing himself, he finished by saying, " Perhaps I'd better go to my 

 own room." 



" Perhaps you had," replied Mr. Jawleyford, advancing towards 

 the door to show him the way. 



" Let me have a candle," said Jack, preparing to follow. 



" Candle, my dear fellow ! why it's broad daylight," replied his 

 host. 



" Is it ? " said Jack, apparently unconscious of the fact. " What's 

 the hour ? " 



