208 THE ADVENTURES OF A GENTLEMAN 



must see it eaten. Even where ostlers are honest, 

 their guests are often knaves. Before I was duly- 

 sensible of the value of these precautions, I one day 

 noticed that my horse had made very rapid work 

 with his feed. I had seen the oats put into his 

 manger, and had been engaged about five or ten 

 minutes in conversation with the ostler in the yard. 

 I knew that the animal required, at the least, five- 

 and-twenty minutes to finish his corn, when mixed 

 with chafi", yet on returning to his manger I found it 

 all gone. I told the ostler my suspicions, and he 

 was not less anxious than myself to detect the culprit. 

 I ordered him to bring another feed, and a handful of 

 nettles : I also bought a little cow-itch at a druggists' 

 shop in the town. We put the whole unobserved into 

 the manger, and tied the halter to the rack to pre- 

 vent the horse from reaching the oats. "VVe then 

 retired, and the trap succeeded. A gentleman's ser- 

 vant was attending a pair of carriage horses in the 

 same stable. In less than ten minutes the rascal 

 came out swearing in no measured terms at the 

 " cockney fool that fed his horse with nettles," and 

 rubbing his hands with a grin of horror mixed with 

 pain, that gave me infinite satisfaction. I immedi- 

 ately tendered him the kindest advice ; "a mixture 



