'

'I should like that very much indeed,' interposed Mrs. Tuggs. She had
never heard of Pegwell; but the word 'lunch' had reached her ears, and it
sounded very agreeably.

'How shall we go?' inquired the captain; 'it's too warm to walk.'

'A shay?' suggested Mr. Joseph Tuggs.

'Chaise,' whispered Mr. Cymon.

'I should think one would be enough,' said Mr. Joseph Tuggs aloud, quite
unconscious of the meaning of the correction. 'However, two shays if you
like.'

'I should like a donkey _so_ much,' said Belinda.

'Oh, so should I!' echoed Charlotta Tuggs.

'Well, we can have a fly,' suggested the captain, 'and you can have a
couple of donkeys.'

A fresh difficulty arose. Mrs. Captain Waters declared it would be
decidedly improper for two ladies to ride alone. The remedy was obvious.
Perhaps young Mr. Tuggs would be gallant enough to accompany them.

Mr. Cymon Tuggs blushed, smiled, looked vacant, and faintly protested
that he was no horseman. The objection was at once overruled. A fly was
speedily found; and three donkeys--which the proprietor declared on his
solemn asseveration to be 'three parts blood, and the other corn'--were
engaged in the service.

'Kim up!' shouted one of the two boys who followed behind, to propel the
donkeys, when Belinda Waters and Charlotta Tuggs had been hoisted, and
pushed, and pulled, into their respective saddles.

'Hi--hi--hi!' groaned the other boy behind Mr. Cymon Tuggs. Away went
the donkey, with the stirrups jingling against the heels of Cymon's
boots, and Cymon's boots nearly scraping the ground.

'Way--way! Wo--o--o--!' cried Mr. Cymon Tuggs as well as he could, in
the midst of the jolting.

'Don't make it gallop!' screamed Mrs. Captain Waters, behind.

'My donkey _will_ go into the public-house!' shrieked Miss Tuggs in the
rear.

'Hi--hi--hi!' groaned both the boys together; and on went the donkeys as
if nothing would ever stop them.

Everything has an end, however; even the galloping of donkeys will cease
in time. The animal which Mr. Cymon Tuggs bestrode, feeling sundry
uncomfortable tugs at the bit, the intent of which he could by no means
divine, abruptly sidled against a brick wall, and expressed his
uneasiness by grinding Mr. Cymon Tuggs's leg on the rough surface. Mrs.
Captain Waters's donkey, apparently under the influence of some
playfulness of spirit, rushed suddenly, head first, into a hedge, and
declined to come out again: and the quadruped