Fyle was indignant 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
unnecessary detail, we think it will be generally admitted that they at
length made an excellent selection in Mr. Puffington, Guano, and Tom
Washball.
[Illustration: MR. VINEY AND MR. WATCHORN GETTING UP 'THE GRAND
ARISTOCRATIC']
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.
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