“'Let me have your cob,' said I, 'and I 'll take the bet.'
“He turned round in his saddle, and stared at me as if I were something more or less than human, while a very general roar of laughing ran around the entire circle.
“'Come away, come away at once,' whispered Kennyfeck, trembling with fright.
“'Yes, you had better move off, my friend,' said a thickset, rough-looking fellow, in a white coat.
“'What say you to five thousand, sir; does that suit your book?' cried the young fellow to me, in a most insolent tone.
“'Oh, let him alone, my Lord,' said another. 'Take no notice of him.'
“'I say, Grindle,' cried a tall thin man with moustaches, 'who let these people inside the ring?'
“'They forces their way, my Lud,' said a little knocker-kneed creature, in a coat four times too big for him, 'and I says to Bill, de—pend upon it, Bill, them's the swell mob.'
“The words were scarcely out of the fellow's mouth when a general cry of the 'swell mob' resounded on every side, and at once they closed upon us, some pushing, others elbowing, driving, and forcing, so that what with the dense crowd, and the tight hold Kennyfeck now kept of me, I was pinioned, and could do nothing. At last, by a vigorous twist, I shook them off from me, and laid two of the foremost at my feet. This I did with a Mexican trick I saw they knew nothing about. You first make a feint at the face, and then, dropping on the knee, seize the fellow by both legs, and hurl him back on his head,—just stand up, I 'll not hurt you.”
“Thank you,—I understand the description perfectly,” said Mr. Softly, pale with terror at the proposed experiment.