166 FIELD AND FERN. 



expenses,, the ever wakeful " Tillyfour" sent some 

 turnips in the truck with him, which took a two- 

 guinea prize in Bingley Hall. On the journey he lost 

 very little, and, in fact, it is only the half-trained 

 beasts that go to pieces then ; but his appetite failed 

 sadly, and all the fire was out of him when he had 

 gone through the dreaded Birmingham ordeal, al- 

 though he was so wild at home that he required 

 six beasts and four men to coax him to the station. 

 He was tried with every kind of food; but bran, oat- 

 meal, and barley-meal never exactly suited him, and 

 what he digested best was linseed well steeped in hot 

 water with a little bran and meal in it. 



By way of a change, we stepped aside to see one 

 of the cleverest jobbers in the county, not more 

 than two bow-shots from Tillyfour. His white pony 

 was grazing in the meadow below, and the journeys 

 of the pair would fill a ledger. We had seen variety 

 enough that morning, but nothing to be compared to 

 his long byre. A large spotted cow, which cost l 

 a leg, was at the far end, next to an eight-guinea 

 Dutch one, and a big black ; and two out of the trio 

 made 29 10s. Then there was a cross-bred heifer, 

 hob-nobbing with a black polled yearling, two dun 

 West Highlanders, a brown sunken-backed cow, two 

 polled heifers and a yellow polled ox, and, to crown 

 all, a shorthorn bull with a pedigree and another 

 without. We asked how the former was bred, and 

 his owner responded that he was of the "Viper tribe," 

 and at once produced his printed pedigree from his 



