r. 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.'

'But you forget,' replied Sponge, 'I don't know the country, I don't know
the people, I don't know anything at all about the run--I never once looked
at the hounds.'

'That's nothin',' replied Jack, 'there'd be plenty like you in that
respect. However,' continued he, gathering himself up in his chair as if
for an effort, 'you can say--let me see what you can say--you can say,
"this splendid pack had a stunning run from Hollyburn Hanger, the property
of its truly popular master, Mr. Puffington," or--stop,' said Jack,
checking himself, 'say, "the property of its truly popular and sporting
master, Mr. Puffington." The cover's just as much mine as it's his,'
observed Jack; 'it belongs to old Sir Timothy Tensthemain, who's vegetating
at Boulogne-sur-Mer, but Puff says he'll buy it when it comes to the
hammer, so we'll flatter him by considering it his already, just as we
flatter him by calling him a sportsman--_sportsman_!' added Jack, with a
sneer, 'he's just as much taste for the thing as a cow.'

'Well,' said Sponge, looking up, 'I've got "truly popular and sporting
master, Mr. Puffington,"' adding, 'hadn't we better say something about the
meet and the grand spread here before we begin with the run?'

'True,' replied Jack, after a long-drawn whiff and another adjustment of
t