Puffington's hounds' at the top of the paper. 'Well,' said he, writing
on, 'this stunning pack had a splendid run.'
'No, not stunning _pack_,' growled Jack, '_splendid_ pack--"this splendid
pack had a stunning run."'
'Stop!' exclaimed Sponge, writing it down; 'well,' said he looking up,
'I've got it.'
'This stunning pack had a splendid run,' repeated Jack, squinting away at
the ceiling.
'I thought you said _splendid_ pack,' observed Sponge.
'So I did,' replied Jack.
'You said stunning just now,' rejoined he.
'Ah, that was a slip of the tongue,' said Jack. 'This splendid pack had a
stunning run,' repeated Jack, appealing again to his cigar for inspiration;
'well, then,' said he, after a pause, 'you just go on as usual, you know,'
continued he, with a flourish of his great red hand.
'As usual!' exclaimed Sponge, 'you don't s'pose one's pen goes of itself.'
'Why, no,' replied Jack, knocking the ashes off his cigar on to the
arabesque-patterned tapestry carpet--'why, no, not exactly; but these
things, you know, are a good deal matter of course; just describe what you
saw, you know, and butter Puff well, that's the main point.
Pages:
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552