892 mr. sponge's sporting tour. 



rang with the outburst of the pack and the clamour of the field. 

 " Talli-ho " " Talli-ho ! " " Hoop ! " "Hoop! " " Hoop ! " cried a 

 score of voices, and " Tivang ! twang ! twang " went the shrill horn 

 of the huntsman. The whips, too,, stood in their stirrups, cracking 

 their ponderous thongs, which sounded like guns upon the frost}- air, 

 and contributed their " Get together! get together, hounds ! " " Hark 

 away ! " " Hark away ! " " Hark aiuay ! " " Hark ! " to the gene- 

 ral uproar. Oh, what a row, what a riot, what a racket ! 



Watchorn "being " in " for it, and recollecting how many saw a 

 start who never thought of seeing a finish, immediately got his horse 

 by the head, and singled himself out from the crowd now pressing at 

 his horse's heels, determining, if the hounds didn't run into their 

 fox in the park, to ride them off the scent at the very first opportu- 

 nity. The " chumpine " being still alive within him, in the excite- 

 ment of the moment he leaped the hand-gate leading out of the 

 shrubberies into the park ; the noise the horse made in taking off 

 resembling the trampling on wood pavement. 



" Cuss it, but it's 'ard ! " exclaimed he, as the horse slid two or 

 three yards as he lighted on the frozen field. 



G-eorge Cheek followed him ; and Multum-in-Parvo, taking the 

 bit deliberately between his teeth, just walked through the gate, as 

 if it had been made of paper. 



"Ah, ye brute!' 1 '' groaned Mr. Sponge, in disgust, digging the 

 Latchfords into his sides, as if he intended to make them meet in the 

 middle. " Ah, ye brute ! " repeated he, giving him a hearty cropper 

 as he put up his head after trying to kick him off. 



" Thank you ! " exclaimed Miss Glitters, cantering up ; adding, 

 " you cleared the way nicely for me." 



Nicely he had cleared it for them all ; and the pent up tide of 

 equestrianism now poured over the park like the flood of an irrigated 

 water-meadow. Such ponies ! such horses ! such hugging ! such 

 kicking ! such scrambling ! and so little progress with many ! 



The park being extensive — three hundred acres or more — there 

 was ample space for the aspiring ones to single themselves out ; and 

 as Lady Scattercash and Orlando sat in the pony-phaeton, on the 

 rising ground by the keeper's house, they saw a dark clad horseman 

 (George Cheek), Old Gingerbread Boots, as they called Mr. Sponge, 

 with Lucy Glitters alongside of him, gradually stealing away from 

 the crowd, and creeping up to Mr. Watchorn who was sailing away 

 with the hounds. 



" What a scrimmage ! " exclaimed her ladyship, standing up in 

 the carriage, and eyeing the 



Strange confusion in the vale below. 



" There's Bob in his old purple," said she, eyeing her brother hustling 

 along; " and there's ' Fat ' in his new Moses and Son; and Bouncey 



