SPECIMEN OF THE SOUTH-WESTERN STATES. 85 



changing their coats, and becoming daily more in- 

 tolerant. I was in want of a horse, and attended 

 a sale in the nearest market-town to procure one. 

 After examining several, I had all but decided on 

 purchasing a nag that was being trotted up and 

 down for my inspection. The brute was well bred, 

 a little undersized, used its feet cleverly ; but it 

 showed an inclination to vice a peculiarity I cared 

 little about. 



'At my elbow stood the person who had just 

 left me. Before that time I had once or twice 

 seen him in a neighbouring billiard-room, but had 

 not taken sufficient interest in him to inquire 

 who he was. Only three or four others were 

 present, namely, the horse-dealer and his assistants, 

 who were separated from me by something like a 

 dozen yards. The word that would have trans- 

 ferred the animal to my possession was all but 

 spoken, when Boyle, for that was his name, said, 

 sotto voce, " Have nothing to do with him in an 

 hour at the billiard-room I will tell you why." 

 And I followed his advice, rejected the mount, 

 and soon after found my way to the billiard-room, 

 where he was seated in a retired corner, evidently 

 wrapped in thought. 



' A more thorough specimen of the South-western 

 States it would be difficult to find. Tall, thin, 

 yet large-boned, bronzed in colour, with a piercing 

 eye and aquiline nose, he appeared to me, as I 

 afterwards found him to be, a man capable of 



