408 mr. sponge's sporting tour. 



him straight, he gave Mrs. Viney a key, desiring her to go into the 

 inner cellar, and bring out a bottle of the green seal. This was 

 ninety-shilling sherry — very good stuff to take; and, by the time 

 they got into the second bottle, they had got into the middle of the 

 scheme too. Viney was cautious and thoughtful. He had a high 

 opinion of Watchorn's sagacity, and so long as Watchorn confined him- 

 self to weights, and stakes, and forfeits, and so on, he was content to 

 leave himself in the hands of the huntsman ; but when Watchorn came 

 to talk of " stewards," putting this person and that together, Viney 's 

 experience came in aid. Viney knew a good deal. He had not stood 

 twisting a napkin negligently before a plate-loaded sideboard without 

 picking up a good many waifs and strays in the shape of those ins 

 and outs, those likings and dislikings, those hatreds and jealousies, 

 that foolish people let fall so freely before servants, as if for all the 

 world the servants were sideboards themselves ; and he had kept up 

 his stock of service-gained knowledge by a liberal, though not a 

 dignity-compromising intercourse — for there is no greater aristocrat 

 than your out-of-livery servant — among the upper servants of all the 

 families in the neighbourhood, so that he knew to a nicety who would 

 pull together and who wouldn't, whose name it would not do to 

 mention to this person, and who it would not do to apply to before 

 that. 



Neither Watchorn nor Viney being sportsmen, they thought they 

 had nothing to do but apply to two friends who were ; and after 

 thinking over who hunted in couples, they were unfortunate enough 

 to select our Flat Hat friends, Fyle and Fossick. Fyle was indig- 

 nant beyond measure at being asked to be steward to a steeple-chase, 

 and thrust the application into the fire; while Fossick just wrote 

 below, " I'll see you hanged first," and sent it back without putting 

 even a fresh head on the envelope. Nothing daunted, however, they 

 returned to the charge, and without troubling the reader with un- 

 necessary detail, we think it will be generally admitted that they at 

 length made an excellent selection in Mr. Pumngton, Guano, and 

 Tom Washball. 



Fortune favoured them also in getting a locality to run in, for 

 Timothy Scourgefield, of Broom Hill, whose farm commanded a good 

 circular three miles of country, with every variety of obstacle, having 

 thrown up his lease for a thirty-per-cent. reduction — a giving up 

 that had been most unhandsomely accepted by his landlord — Timothy 

 was most anxious to pay him off by doing every conceivable injury 

 to the farm, than which nothing can be more promising than having 

 a steeple-chase run over it. Scourgefield, therefore, readily agreed 

 to let Viney and Watchorn do whatever they liked, on condition that 

 he received entrance-money at the gate. 



The name occupied their attention some time, for it did not begin 

 as the " Aristocratic." The " Great National," the " Grand Naval 



