256 MR. sponge's sporting tour. 



" Great snob," observed Pacey. 



" Shocking," assented Spraggon. 



" He's got a good horse or two, though," observed Pacey; " I saw 

 them on the road coming here the other day." Pacey, like many 

 youngsters, professed to be a judge of horses, and thought himself 

 rather sharp at a deal. 



" They are good horses," replied Jack, with an emphasis on the 

 good ; adding, " I'd be very glad to have one of them." 



Mr. Spraggon then asked Mr. Pacey to take champagne, as the 

 commencement of a better understanding. 



The wine flowed freely, and the guests, particularly the fresh in- 

 fusion, did ample justice to it. The guests of the day before, having 

 indulged somewhat freely, were more moderate at first, though they 

 seemed well inclined to do their best after they got their stomachs a 

 little restored. Spraggon could drink any given quantity at any 

 time. 



The conversation got brisker and brisker ; and before the cloth 

 was drawn there was a very general clamour, in which all sorts of 

 subjects seemed to be mixed, — each man addressing himself to his 

 immediate neighbour ; one talking of taxes, — another of tares, — a 

 third, of hunting and the system of kennel, — a fourth, of the corn- 

 laws, — old Blossomnose, about tithes, — Slapp, about timber and 

 water-jumping, — Miller, about Collison's pills; and Guano, about 

 anything that he could get a word edged in about. Great, indeed, 

 was the hubbub. Gradually, however, as the evening advanced Pacey 

 and Guano out-talked the rest, and at length Pacey got the noise 

 pretty well to himself. When anything definite could be extracted 

 from the mass of confusion, he was expatiating on steeple-chasing, 

 hurdle-racing, weights for age, ons and offs clever — a sort of mix- 

 ture of hunting, racing, and "Aiken." 



Sponge cocked his ear, and sat on the watch, occasionally hazard- 

 ing an observation, while Jack, who was next Pacey, on the left, pre- 

 tended to decry Sponge's judgment, asking sotto voce, with a whiff 

 through his nose, what such a cockney as that could know about 

 horses ? What between Jack's encouragement and the inspiring in- 

 fluence of the bottle, aided by his own self-sufficiency, Pacey began 

 to look upon Sponge with anything but admiration ; and at last it 

 occurred to him that he would be a very proper subject to, what he 

 called, "take the shine out of." 



" That isn't a bad-like nag, that chestnut of yours, for the wheeler 

 of a coach, Mr. Sponge," exclaimed he, at the instigation of Spraggon, 

 to our friend, producing, of course, a loud guffaw from the party. 



" No, he isn't," replied Sponge, coolly ; adding, " very like one, I 

 should say." 



" Devilish good horse," growled Jack in Pacey's car. 



