ort. 'Well, then, say,
"Hitting off the scent like a workman"--big H, you know, for a fresh
sentence--"they went away again at score, and passing by Moorlinch farm
buildings, and threading the strip of plantation by Bexley Burn, he crossed
Silverbury Green, leaving Longford Hutch to the right, and passing straight
on by the gibbet at Harpen." Those are all bits of places, observed Jack,
'that none but the country folks know' indeed, I shouldn't have known them
but for shootin' over them when old Bloss lived at the Green. Well, now,
have you got all that?' asked he.

'"Gibbet at Harpen,"' read Sponge, as he wrote it.

'"Here, then, the gallant pack, breaking from scent to view,"' continued
Jack, speaking slowly, '"ran into their fox in the open close upon
Mountnessing Wood, evidently his point from the first, and into which a few
more strides would have carried him. It was as fine a run as ever was seen,
and the hunting of the hounds was the admiration of all who saw it. The
distance couldn't have been less than"--than--what shall we say?' asked
Jack.

'Ten, twelve miles, as the crow flies,' suggested Sponge.

'No,' said Jack,' that would be too much. Say ten'; adding, 'that will be
four miles more than it was.'

'Never mind,' said Sponge, as he wrote it; 'folks like good measure with
runs as well as ribbons.'

'Now we must butter old Puff,' observed Spraggon.

'What can we say for him?' asked Sponge; 'that he never went off the road?'

'No, by Jove!' said Jack; 'you'll spoil all if you do that: better leave it
alone altogether than do that. Say, "the justly popular owner of this most
celebrated pack, though riding good fourteen stone" (he rides far more,'
observed Jack; 'at least sixteen; but it'll please him to make out that he
_can_ ride fourteen), "led the welters, on his famous chestnut horse,
Tappey Lappey."'

'What shall we say about the rest?' asked Sponge; 'Lumpleg, Slapp, Guano,
and all those?'

[Illustration: JACK AND MR. SPONGE WRITE AN ARTICLE FOR THE SWILLINGFORD
PAPER]

'Oh, say nothin',' replied Jack; 'we've nothin' to do with nobody but Puff,
and we couldn't mention them without bringin' in our Flat Hat men
too--Blossomnose, Fyle, Fossick, and so on. Besides, it would spoil all to
say that Guano was up--people would say directly it couldn't have been much
of a run if Guano was there. You might finish off,' observed Jack, after a
pause, 'by saying that "after this truly brilliant affair, Mr.