206 MR. sponge's sporting tour. 



regular pack, but something betwixt and between. They were 

 hunted by a saddler, who found his own horses, and sometimes he 

 had a whip aM sometimes he hadn,'t. The establishment died as 

 often as old Mantalini himself. Every season that came to a close 

 was proclaimed to be their last, but somehow or other they always 

 managed to scramble into existence on the approach of another. It 

 is a way, indeed, that delicate packs have of recruiting their finances. 

 Nevertheless, the Mangeysternes did look very like coming to an end 

 about the time that Mr. Pufiington bought Hanby House. The 

 saddler huntsman had failed ; John Doe had taken one of his screws, 

 and Richard &^ the other, and anybody might have the hounds 

 that liked : l^^fflfton then turned up. 



* Great w^PBI joy diffused throughout the Mangeysterne country 

 when it trs^ispired, through the medium of his valet, Louis Berga- 

 uiotl^, that " his lor' had beaucovp habit rouge " in his wardrobe. 

 Not onl^ia^nV r^pe, but habit blue and buff, thai he used to sport 

 with " Old Beaufoot " and the Badminton hunt — coats that he cer- 

 tainly had no chance of ever getting into again, but still which 

 he kept as memorials of the past — souvenirs of the days when he was 

 young and slim. The bottle conjuror could just as soon have got 

 into his quart bottle as Puff could into the Beaufort coat at the 

 time of whi^h we are writing. The intelligence of their existence 

 was quickly followed by the aforesaid fifty-pound cheque. A meet- 

 ing of the Mangej«sterne mint was called at the sign of the Thirsty 

 Freeman in Swillingford — Sir Charles Figgs, Knight — a large-pro- 

 mising but badly-paying subscriber — in the chair, when it was pro- 

 posed and carried unanimously that Mr. Pufiragton was eminently 

 qualified for the mastership of the hunt, ana that it be offered 

 to him accordingly. Puff " bit." He recalled his early exploits 

 with " Mostyn and old Beaufoot," and resolved that the hunt had 

 taken a right view of his abilities.- In coming to this decision he, 

 perhaps, was not altogether uninfluenced by a plausible subscription 

 list, which seemed about equal to the ordinary expenses, supposing 

 that any reliance could be placed on the figures and calculations of 

 Sir Charles. All those, however, who have had anything to do with 

 subscription lists — and in these days of universal testimonialising 

 who has not ? — well know that pounds upon paper and pounds in 

 the pocket are very different things.. Above all, Puff felt that he 

 was a new man in the' country, and that taking the hounds would 

 give him weight. 



The " Mangeysterne dogs " then began to " look up; " Mr. Puff- 

 ington took to them in earnest ; bought a " Beckford," and shortened 

 his military stirrups to a hunting seat. 



