ABOUT BUYING A HORSE. 85 



Odd ! I should never have thought of this. Perhaps the 

 animal is blind as a bat, or going blind. 



Trott doesn't speak to anyone. 



Solemn moment. " Waiting for tlie Verdict.*' 



He feels the legs, he examines the knees. He lifts up the 

 feet, fore and hind (dangerous part of his business this), and, 

 after passing his hand over her quarters (I think they're 

 called " quarters," but, arithmetically, they occupy a third of 

 the horse from his tail to the beginning of the fail in his 

 back), he whispers to me, mysteriously, what sounds like 

 ^' Splinter— off— fore." 



I am glad I brought Trott. 



Hov/ should /have found out that she had got a splinter 

 in her off fore-leg ? I've had a splinter in my hand before 

 now, and it's very painful. In one's leg it would most likely 

 cause lameness. Hov/ did she get it? By falling against a 

 gate, or against some wood in the stable, or an unfinished 

 shaft in harness ? 



Mem. — Ask him afterwards. 



" Run her out," says Trott. 



She goes through these performances, and then Trott says 

 to me — 



" Would you like to throv/ your leg over her ? " 



I understand him to mean, would I like to ride her ? Well 

 — um — yes — only, I remember, I haven't ridden for three 

 years ; and I say — " I haven't come prepared for riding."' 

 By this I mean that I am not in cords and boots. 



" Better," says Air. Trott ; "just to see if she satisfies 

 you." 



