'
'Thank you, my lord,' replied Sponge; 'but I'll mount at the cover side.
Sponge not being inclined to let the Flat Hat Hunt field see the difference
of opinion that occasionally existed between the gallant brown and himself.
'As you please,' rejoined his lordship, 'as you please,' jerking his head
at Frostyface, who forthwith gave the office to the hounds; whereupon all
was commotion. Away the cavalcade went, and in less than five minutes the
late bustling village resumed its wonted quiet; the old man on sticks, two
crones gossiping at a door, a rag-or-anything-else-gatherer going about
with a donkey, and a parcel of dirty children tumbling about on the green,
being all that remained on the scene. All the able-bodied men had followed
the hounds. Why the hounds had ever climbed the long hill seemed a mystery,
seeing that they returned the way they came.
Jawleyford, though sore disconcerted at having 'Jack' pawned upon him,
stuck to my lord, and rode on his right with the air of a general. He felt
he was doing his duty as an Englishman in thus patronizing the
hounds--encouraging a manly spirit of independence, and promoting our
unrivalled breed of horses.
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