122 TALES OF THE TURF AND THE CHASE. 



borrowed of the landlord, walked out to the stables to look at 

 the brute. The little ostler had scraped her down and thrown 

 a cloth over her, and she was munching some fragrant hay as if 

 nothing had happened. 



' Come from Captain Pumpkin's, sir ?' asked the ostler. 



I shook my head and looked at him ; I guessed what was 

 coming. 



' Not ?' said he. ' I thought this yere mare was his.' 



' Yes, it was,' I replied ; ' but my father bought it.' 



' Ah !' said he, with a look which added plainly, ' What a 

 green fellow your father must be !' He added aloud, ' P'raps 'e 

 got 'er cheap ?' 



* I can't say,' said I. 



' Well,' said he, ' I thought I knowed 'er. If ye once clap 

 eyes on 'er, you'll easy know 'er agin, you know, sir,' he con- 

 tinued, with a hoarse laugh ; ' this yere ear, and the fired pastern. 

 Woa, tit !' 



' Ye-es,' said I, in a tone of dolour, and related to him some 

 of our adventures. 



' Ah,' laughed he, getting quite lively, ' she is a bad un, ain't 

 she? She's the tippest-topper at badness ever I see. So sly, 

 too. Lor' bless you, sir !' 



He seemed about to relate some remarkable anecdote of her 

 history, but thought better of it, and said, 



' Don't you wear of yerself out with her, sir. She'll break 

 your neck, or break 'er own, afore she's done.' 



' Ah !' said I. 



' Ride 'ome on this yere 'oss, an' let me walk 'er over in the 

 mornin'.' 



O, no, I wouldn't hear of such a thing. I'd ride her back, 

 though heaven should fall. So I mounted and cantered away. 

 I thought I was going to get her home pretty easily ; but at the 

 head of the village she turned and gallopped back into the 

 George yard. 



Little bow-legs laughed, and asked, ' What will you do, sir ?* 

 ' Go in and have a smoke,' said I, ' and try again.' 

 I went in and smoked a cigar. Then I returned to the brute. 

 I was determined she should go home now. 



She danced and capered to the no small dismay and delight 

 of the village children and gossips. This seemed to furnish her 

 cunning head with a new idea ; for every time she caught sight 

 of a house or cottage with a child or two about she played off 



