It was not till he had turned over, and yawned twice or thrice, that he comprehended the actual position in which he was placed. Then, for the first time, the magnitude of the undertaking1 on which he had embarked2 presented itself to his mind; and then did he realise the deficiencies of his stud, the difficulties he was about to encounter, the rashness and perplexity of the whole proceeding3. A feeling of loneliness stole over him; and he even experienced a want of confidence in himself. For an instant, he almost wished he was back at home, and the dastardly possibility of returning there flashed across his mind. All these unworthy thoughts, however, were dissipated by the entrance of Isaac, with a pair of boots in one hand, and a glimmering4 bedroom candle in the other, as the mists of morning are dispelled5 by the rising sun; and, even as the shrinking combatant gathers confidence from the flash of his drawn6 sword, so, at the first glimpse of those long-rowelled spurs of which Marathon knew too well the persuasive7 powers, John Standish Sawyer was himself again.
“Half after eight, sir,” said Isaac, setting down the candle, and proceeding to pour cold water into the tub—a process that by no means tempted8 his master to rise on the instant. “Half after eight, sir; and the grey’s got a bit of a cough. It’s that strange stable as done it. And you was to let me know in the morning which of them I was to take on.”
“What sort of a day is it?” asked our friend, in a sleepy voice, turning, like Dr. Watts’s sluggard9, into a more comfortable position. At that moment, it would not have broken his heart to be told that it was too hard to hunt.
“Can’t see your hand,” was the encouraging reply: “it’s one of these regular Leicester-sheer fogs, as the grooms10 tells me, as is wery prevalent hereabouts. The lamps is lit now in the streets; but it’ll be wusser up on the high ground. They’ll hunt, though, just the same, says they. Weather never stops them here, unless it be the sewerest of frost and snow, as I understand. Shall I open the shutters11, sir?”
Isaac threw them back as he spoke12, and drew up the blind, disclosing to Mr. Sawyer’s view about eighteen feet of tiles, a weathercock pointing east-south-east, and a chimney adorned13 with what is called an “old woman”—an ingenious contrivance to prevent it from smoking, but in this instance, to judge by the smell of soot14 which pervaded15 the apartment, by no means a successful piece of mechanism—the whole wrapped in a mantle16 of the densest17 and wettest fog he ever remembered to have seen.
“Sure to be late such a morning as this,” thought Mr. Sawyer, preparing for another comfortable half-hour in bed; but then he reflected that he must send Isaac forward with a horse, also that he should have to find his own way to Tilton Wood, on his hack18—a sufficiently19 intricate proceeding as studied overnight by a map, but which might become excessively puzzling when reduced to practice, through large pastures and unknown bridle-gates, on such a morning as the present.
“Take on the grey!” said he, peremptorily20, ignoring the cough; “and order breakfast for me in three-quarters of an hour.”
The fact is, Mr. Sawyer had but the grey to ride. He did not quite fancy giving the roan his earliest trial in what he understood to be a hilly country; and as for making his first appearance in High Leicestershire on Marathon—really, though both were pretty strong, neither his nerves nor his self-conceit would have stood such a test.
Somehow, everything went wrong, as is apt to be the case in a strange place, and when we are particularly anxious for the reverse. He cut himself shaving. His leathers were damp, and badly cleaned; looser, too, at the knees, and tighter in the thighs21, than he liked. Also, he couldn’t find his button-hook; and any one who has put on boots and breeches without the aid of that implement22, will sympathise with his distress23. Isaac knew where it was, doubtless; but, ere his master arrived at the stage of toilet at which it was required, Isaac and the grey had made their first wrong turn in the fog, about a mile from the town, on their way to Tilton Wood.
Altogether, by the time The Boy, with rather heavy eyes and an unwashed face, had brought round Jack24-a-Dandy, our friend was in that mood which is best described as having “got out of bed with the wrong foot foremost.”
Once in the saddle, however, things mended rapidly. No horseman could get upon Jack-a-Dandy without feeling what a good little animal it was; and, indeed, Jack’s career had been a somewhat adventurous25 one. Thorough-bred, but too small to be put in training, he had fallen into the hands of a steeple-chasing horsedealer, who sank his pedigree, and put him in one or two good handicaps as “his daughter’s pony27.” Master Jack could jump like a deer, and, with nine stone seven on his back, was quite able to make hunters of considerable pretensions28 look extremely foolish. This could not go on for ever, and the dealer26 broke, after which, Jack carried the drunken whip of a pack of Irish fox-hounds for two seasons, and, when that establishment “busted up,” found his way once more into his native country, as leader in a young gentleman’s tandem29, who tried to graduate at Oxford30. Pending31 the failure of that acolyte32, he had a good deal of fun at Bullingdon, winning cleverly whenever he had a chance, and only left the University because his master did, and took him to London, and, despite certain eccentricities33, rode him in the Park. When that youth was compelled to obtain his passports for the Continent, Jack, in company with several other valuables, was seized by the creditors34; and I fancy he had a very bad time of it for two or three years, till he turned up at Smithfield, nothing but skin, bone, and blemishes35, with a pair of raw shoulders that would have made you sick. Here Mr. Sawyer, struck with his “make-and-shape,” bought him, after a good deal of haggling36, for thirteen pounds ten shillings, throwing in half-a-crown for luck, and standing37 two pots of beer and a glass of brandy-and-water, besides the man’s expenses who brought him to the West-end. Altogether, he cost him less than fourteen sovereigns; and he justly considered him very cheap at the money. Though his knees were broke, and he was fired all round, he never stumbled or was lame38; and if you didn’t mind a succession of kicks for the first half-mile and a mouth which bad usage had rendered perfectly39 callous40, he was as pleasant a hack as you could wish to get upon. Jack never wanted to pull, if the rein41 was laid on his neck; but the moment it was caught hold of, his old associations took it as a signal to go, and go he would, accordingly. With regard to his appellation—the last among many aliases—when his master called him “Jack,” old Isaac called him “The Dandy,” and vice42 versa.
There are a good many ways from Market Harborough to Tilton Wood. Of course, the morning being very thick, and Mr. Sawyer a perfect stranger to the country, he chose the most intricate, hoping to pass between the Langtons—of which, for the more complete bewilderment of strangers, there are five or six—and so to reach Stanton Wyville, whence he meant boldly to leave the lanes, and strike out into a line of bridle-gates, by the corner of Stanton Wood, which might or might not eventually land him somewhere about Skeffington.
Deluded43 man! Ere he reached the grass-track he meant to follow, the fog was denser44 than ever. He managed to get through one bridle-gate, after catching45 his horse’s rein on the post—an insult which The Dandy resented by putting his head down, and racing46 wilfully47 and aimlessly into the surrounding obscurity—and then found himself riding round and round the same field, with extraordinary perseverance48, and not the remotest chance of escape.
He would have liked, now, to get back again into the lanes; but he could not even hit the gate at which he entered, and had embarked upon the tedious process of coasting the field methodically, for that purpose, and giving up all idea of hunting for the day, when, much to his relief, he spied a gigantic object looming49 through the fog, which, on a nearer approach, proved to be nothing larger than a horseman, cantering confidently towards him.
On inspection50, this timely arrival turned out to be the Honourable51 Crasher, with an enormous cigar in his mouth, looking more tired than ever, and, apparently52, quite unconscious of the fog and everything else. With an effort, however, he recognised his fellow-traveller of the day before, and courteously53 offered to guide him—a proposal which the latter accepted with great readiness.
“I had almost lost myself,” said he, “what with this thick fog, and not knowing the country.”
To which the Honourable Crasher replied, “Y-e-e-es—it makes one cough, but it’s all plain sailing now,” and broke into a gallop54.
Poor Mr. Sawyer! If he had only known it! His guide was one of the many gentlemen who could hunt twenty years from the same place, and never know their shortest way from one point to another.
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1
undertaking
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| n.保证，许诺，事业 | |
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2
embarked
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| 乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 )； 装载； 从事 | |
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3
proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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4
glimmering
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| n.微光，隐约的一瞥adj.薄弱地发光的v.发闪光，发微光( glimmer的现在分词 ) | |
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5
dispelled
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| v.驱散，赶跑( dispel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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6
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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7
persuasive
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| adj.有说服力的，能说得使人相信的 | |
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8
tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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9
sluggard
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| n.懒人；adj.懒惰的 | |
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10
grooms
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| n.新郎( groom的名词复数 )；马夫v.照料或梳洗（马等）( groom的第三人称单数 )；使做好准备；训练；（给动物）擦洗 | |
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11
shutters
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| 百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门 | |
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12
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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13
adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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14
soot
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| n.煤烟，烟尘；vt.熏以煤烟 | |
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15
pervaded
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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16
mantle
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| n.斗篷，覆罩之物，罩子；v.罩住，覆盖，脸红 | |
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17
densest
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| 密集的( dense的最高级 )； 密度大的； 愚笨的； （信息量大得）难理解的 | |
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18
hack
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| n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳 | |
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19
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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20
peremptorily
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| adv.紧急地，不容分说地，专横地 | |
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21
thighs
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| n.股，大腿( thigh的名词复数 )；食用的鸡（等的）腿 | |
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22
implement
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| n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行 | |
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23
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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24
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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25
adventurous
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| adj.爱冒险的；惊心动魄的，惊险的，刺激的 | |
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26
dealer
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| n.商人，贩子 | |
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pony
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| adj.小型的；n.小马 | |
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28
pretensions
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| 自称( pretension的名词复数 )； 自命不凡； 要求； 权力 | |
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29
tandem
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| n.同时发生；配合；adv.一个跟着一个地；纵排地；adj.（两匹马）前后纵列的 | |
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30
Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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31
pending
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| prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的 | |
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32
acolyte
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| n.助手，侍僧 | |
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33
eccentricities
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| n.古怪行为( eccentricity的名词复数 )；反常；怪癖 | |
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34
creditors
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| n.债权人，债主( creditor的名词复数 ) | |
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35
blemishes
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| n.（身体的）瘢点( blemish的名词复数 )；伤疤；瑕疵；污点 | |
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36
haggling
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| v.讨价还价( haggle的现在分词 ) | |
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37
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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38
lame
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| adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的 | |
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39
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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40
callous
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| adj.无情的，冷淡的，硬结的，起老茧的 | |
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41
rein
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| n.疆绳，统治，支配；vt.以僵绳控制，统治 | |
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42
vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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43
deluded
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| v.欺骗，哄骗( delude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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44
denser
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| adj. 不易看透的, 密集的, 浓厚的, 愚钝的 | |
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45
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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46
racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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47
wilfully
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| adv.任性固执地；蓄意地 | |
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48
perseverance
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| n.坚持不懈，不屈不挠 | |
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49
looming
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| n.上现蜃景（光通过低层大气发生异常折射形成的一种海市蜃楼）v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的现在分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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50
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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51
honourable
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| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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52
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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53
courteously
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| adv.有礼貌地，亲切地 | |
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54
gallop
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| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
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