"D—n your eyes! I'm not a lord; call me Captain, that will do; but never mind, jump up if you would like a ride."
Without attempting a reply, Johnny at once proceeded to scramble up behind; and he had hardly done so ere the Captain drove off at his break-neck pace; it almost made Johnny giddy to see at what a rate the ground spun away from under him.
"How do you like it, my little man?" said Lord Arranmore, turning round.
"Very much, sir, thank you," said Johnny, timidly.
"By the Lord, you are most unhappy in your ideas," roared the Captain; "you lorded me who am nobody, and sirred him who is every inch a Marquis; and that's saying a good deal."
A roar of laughter greeted Johnny as he asked pardon; and he now perceived, for the first time, the immense proportions of the Marquis, who was an Irishman, and a perfect giant in height and size.
Edinburgh was quickly reached; and, after a few commissions at the gunmaker's and saddler's had been executed, they lunched at a pump, which was the Captain's favourite resort, where he was as good as his word, and pumped his protégé well. They then turned their backs on the Castle once more, and were proceeding down Princes Street towards home at a furious rate when, to the Captain's horror, who thus knew his fate, one of the wheels was seen running merrily in front. Ere he could frame the awful oath that hung on his lips, down came the whole concern with a loud crash! The trap was turned completely over, sending its occupants flying in different ways.
The Captain was shot against a stout gentleman, who, though he broke the intruder's fall, was not a little shaken by it. Arranmore was hurled in the front of a young ladies' school walking quietly along, where he occasioned great confusion among the girls, who fancied, in their terror, as they gazed on his colossal limbs, a Titan had fallen from the sky. Johnny was shot right before the leaders of a coach which went off ere he could hardly roll himself on one side. Beyond a few bruises no one was materially hurt.
A scene followed such as Johnny had never before witnessed. The Captain was shaking hands with the old gentleman he had spilt, and swearing great guns, intermingled with roars of laughter at the old man's expense, who could by no means treat the affair as "such a joke," as the Captain called it. Arranmore was in great wrath, and swore loudly too, fancying he had been made a fool of, and anathematizing the inquisitive crowd gathered thickly round.
Meantime the spirited horses had broken their traces and run off; they were, however, caught before the High School, and led back in triumph. A new linchpin, the loss of which had caused the accident, was readily procured, the machine, as the Scotch say, "righted;" and, shaking the dust off their clothes, the trio soon mounted on high again. Lashing his whip amongst the throng, the young Jehu once more assumed the reins, and drove off at the same dangerous rate as if nothing had happened.