236 WOLF-HUNTING. 



My first impulse, I confess, was to burst out laughing at the 

 strange aspect he had so suddenly assumed ; but on second and 

 better thoughts the inhumanity of doing so occurred to my mind, 

 and I rushed up with the view of rendering him all the assistance 

 his situation might require. Keryfan, too, did the same, with an 

 unusually grave demeanour ; but before we had fairly ranged 

 alongside him, the horse-dealer had drawn a long clasp-knife out 

 of his breeches-pocket, and was coolly proceeding to scrape the 

 mud from his face and clothes, just as he would have applied an 

 iron hoop to a horse's belly in his own stable-yard. 



" Not hurt, I hope ? " inquired Keryfan and myself simulta- 

 neously, as we reined up our horses close to where he stood. 



"No damage done, gentlemen, except to my body-clothes. 

 They were all new last week; and now Samuel Brothers, who 

 supplied the rig, would not know a garment of them again, I'm 

 blessed if they would." 



" Oh, if that's all, they'll be all right again, and all the better, 

 perhaps, for the seasoning," I replied, being somewhat surprised 

 at finding the man took more thought of the adornment than the 

 safety of his body. 



" You think so, do you ? " he answered curtly, now scraping 

 away at his waistcoat, and bringing out its original scarlet hue, 

 though in a sadly subdued form. "A spoke-brush and ten 

 buckets of water wouldn't do it ; at least, that's my opinion." 



During this process and conversation the horse lay embedded 

 in the mire, still as a log, and apparently utterly cowed by the 

 rough treatment to which he had been subjected ; nor, while he 

 was busied in removing the soil from his person, did Johnson 

 vouchsafe even a look at the animal that had brought him into 

 so woful a plight. But that being accomplished, so far as his 

 knife could do it, he lighted a cigar, and, taking the curb-rein in 

 hand, he dealt the horse a tremendous kick in the ribs, shouting 

 at him to "get up," and bringing the curb to bear sharply on 



