FOR SALE— A THOROUGHBRED NAG. 119 



She trod and trod in her easy springy style, catching at and 

 chewing her bit (it was a simple champ-bit with keys), but she 

 w^ould not step an inch forward in obedience to my mild requests 

 and entreaties. My father, at length out of patience, gave her 

 a smack on the shoulder with the end of the rein he held, and 

 away she dashed. But she found in a little that, what with me 

 on her back and father and Joe with a rein on either side, there 

 was little room for the play of her own free will. 



She submitted sullenly: sullenness and design were always 

 expressed to me by her Jewish cast of nose and long narrow 

 forehead. There are no points so attractive in a horse as an 

 open frank nostril and a broad forehead. 



' I don't like that head of hers,' said I to Joe ; ' I can't think 

 she's thoroughbred.' 



' Thoroughbred ? Lor' bless you, Mister James, ye've jest 

 got to twig that cartey 'ead to know that ; though it 

 wouldn't do,' added he in an undertone, ' to say that to master. 

 No.' 



I went to feed her (I always fed her myself). I mixed in a 

 sieve a quantity of chaff and bran, with a sprinkling of salt and 

 two or three handfuls of oats, for we thought that full measure 

 of hard food might make her like Jeshurun. She observed my 

 movements over her shoulder in sullen expectancy. I put it in 

 her manger. She sniffed at it, tasted it, tossed as much as she 

 could out with her nose, and then turned and glowered at me ; 

 till, with a sound more like a pig's grunt or a testy man's 

 ' humph !' than an honest equine snort, she returned to her 

 manger and began eating. 



' There,' cried Joe, wagging his head at me, ' not she ! O, no ! 

 Don't you make no mistake !' 



After these oracular w^ords from Joe, I resumed, 



' I'm sure she and I will never be good friends. She looks 

 so secret, so crafty and designing, there can never be any confi- 

 dence between us.' 



' Ah !' said Joe, looking puzzled. 



' I shall never be able to trust that Jew nose.' 



Joe laughed, and kept repeating to himself, ' Jew nose,' as if 

 it were a very rich joke. 



We plunged and trained her in the soft field the next day, 

 and the third day, and the fourth, and the fifth ; and my father 

 said every day with increasing confidence as the days passed, 

 * I don't see anything about that mare that should make folks 



