'Two or three weeks,' replied the cabbie. 'Weeks!' said Mr Pickwick in astonishment, and out came the note-book again.

'He lives at Pentonville when he's at home,' the driver said coolly, 'but we don't often take him home, because of his weakness.'

'Because of his weakness!' repeated the perplexed Mr Pickwick.

'He always falls down when he's taken off the front of the cab,' the driver told Pickwick, 'but when he's there, we tie him in very tightly, so he can't fall down; and we've got a pair of very large wheels at the back, so when he does move, they run after him, and he has to go on - he can't help it.'

Mr Pickwick entered every word of what the cabbie said in his notebook. He wanted to be able to tell the club of this fascinating example of how a horse managed to stay alive in a very difficult situation. He had just finished writing when they reached the Golden Cross. Down jumped the driver, and out got Mr Pickwick. Mr Tupman, Mr Snodgrass, and Mr Winkle, had been anxiously waiting the arrival of their illustrious leader. Now they crowded around to welcome him.

Vocabulary:

Pentonville: A part of London.
Cool: Here it means 'calm and relaxed'.
Perplexed: Not understanding
Entered: Here it means 'wrote down'
Illustrious: Famous and respected