Two or three other gentlemen had something to say before the Major
was allowed to speak,--the upshot of the discourse of all of them
being the same. The Major must go.

Then the Major got up, and certainly as far as attention went he
had full justice done him. However clamorous they might intend to
be afterwards that amount of fair play they were all determined
to afford him. The Major was not excellent at speaking, but he
did perhaps better than might have been expected. "This is a very
disagreeable position," he said, "very disagreeable indeed. As for
the nail in the horse's foot I know no more about it than the babe
unborn. But I've got two things to say, and I'll say what aren't the
most consequence first. These hounds belong to me." Here he paused,
and a loud contradiction came from many parts of the room. Mr.
Jawstock, however, proposed that the Major should be heard to the
end. "I say they belong to me," repeated the Major. "If anybody
tries his hand at anything else the law will soon set that to rights.
But that aren't of much consequence. What I've got to say is this.
Let the matter be referred. If that 'orse had a nail run into his
foot,--and I don't say he hadn't,--who was the man most injured? Why,
Lord Silverbridge. Everybody knows that. I suppose he dropped well on
to eighty thousand pounds! I propose to leave it to him. Let him say.
He ought to know more about it than any one. He and I were partners
in the horse. His Lordship aren't very sweet upon me just at present.
Nobody need fear that he'll do me a good turn. I say leave it to
him."

In this matter the Major had certainly been well advised. A rumour
had become prevalent among sporting circles that Silverbridge had
refused to condemn the Major. It was known that he had paid his bets
without delay, and that he had, to some extent, declined to take
advice from the leaders of the Jockey Club. The Major's friends were
informed that the young lord had refused to vote against him at the
club. Was it not more than probable that if this matter were referred
to him he would refuse to give a verdict against his late partner?

The Major sat down, put on his cap, and folded his arms akimbo,
with his horn sticking out from his left hand. For a time there was
general silence, broken, however, by murmurs in different parts of
the room. Then Mr. Jawstock whispered something into the ear of the
Chairman, and Mr. Topps, rising from his seat, suggested to Tifto
t