TAKEN ABACK. 43 



"I gave a good deal of money for him^ I 

 assure jou/' said lie. 



" I dare say you did/' said I ; '^ such a horse 

 will always command such a price.^^ 



" Well/^ said he, " I in no way grudge the 

 price. I bought him for a hunter; and as you 

 think so well of him for that purpose, I am much 

 pleased with myself for having purchased him.^^ 



" I am not aware," said I, ^' of ha\dng ex- 

 pressed myself in terms to lead you to such a con- 

 clusion. If I have, I must correct them." 



"Why," said my friend, "you say he is big 

 enoug'h, strong enough, and shows breeding suffi- 

 cient for a hunter, that he goes well, and is a fine 

 horse ; moreover, that he would command a 

 strong price, by which I understand that he is 

 worth it." 



" This is all quite correct," I repHed ; " you 

 asked my opinion of your horse merely as an 

 animal, you did not ask it as to how far I ap- 

 proved of him as a hunter. The qualifications 

 he has are all requisite or desirable in a hunter, 

 but they alone do not make him one. That 

 he is not one at present, the way he took the 

 little water drain you rode him over satisfied me 

 at once ; and I see things about him that, I may 

 fairly prognosticate, will prevent his ever be- 

 coming, or, at all events, lasting as one." 



" And what are these ? " said he, evidently 



