“Don’t prevaricate, sir, I saw you, and when that brute squealed out you could hear the noise go echoing all down the valley.”
In the most innocent manner—having his handkerchief out of his pocket—the old lawyer applied it to his nose and gave another blast, the result being that the horses nearly went off again; but Yussuf caught Mr Burne’s steed, and the professor and Lawrence managed to hold theirs in, but not without difficulty.
“What! were you doing it again?” cried Mr Burne angrily.
“My dear Burne—no, no; pray, don’t do that,” cried the professor. “Don’t you see that it was you who startled the animals off?”
“I startle them? I? What nonsense!”
“But indeed you did, when you blew your nose so loudly.”
“Blew my nose so loudly! Did I blow my nose so loudly?”
“Did you? why it was you who raised that echo.”
“I? Raised that echo? My dear sir, are you dreaming?”
“Dreaming? No! A ride like that upon a rough Turkish horse does not conduce to dreaming. My dear Burne, did you not know that you made that noise?”