242 THE HUNTING FIELD 



" What did you give for your pig, my good woman ? " 

 inquired Pappington, riding up. 



" Five-and-twenty shillings," replied the woman. 



She had been hoaxing the man. 



That was a spec deserving of a better result. We shall now 

 exhibit our Captain in the more genial field of horse-dealing. 



He once had a horse that he sold six times over in one year, 

 receiving from each purchaser a bonus for taking him back. 

 This was Lambkin, as he was erroneously called, though we 

 really believe the name had considerable influence in selling 

 him. Lambkin was a finely-shaped black horse about fifteen 

 two, or rather under, a size adapted for hacking, hunting, or 

 harness. The Captain either got him in a gambling debt, or 

 from some officer ordered to join his regiment, we don't know 

 whither. Suffice it to say, that in the season of sea kale and 

 spring captains, Shabbyhounde cast up at Market Harborough 

 with Lambkin in his stud. Now Lambkin really was a nice- 

 looking horse — he was what we may call a creditable, 

 gentlemanly-looking horse, in contradistinction to the 

 blemished, iron-marked, knuckling, round-legged Tom and 

 Jerry seedy-looking screws that generally composed his stud. 

 With any man but Shabbyhounde upon him, the horse would 

 have looked like a hundred and fifty or two hundred guineas, 

 but spring captains are always suspicious creatures — such a 

 spring captain as Shabbyhounde — suspicious beyond all 

 conception. Many people looked at the horse, many admired 

 him, many talked of him, and if Shabbyhounde had not been 

 at Harborough before, he would very soon have sold him. 

 As it was, he rather hung fire — everybody was satisfied that 

 there was a screw loose somewhere, and most industriously 

 they set to work to discover it. One thought his carcass was 

 too big for his legs, another that his wind wasn't good — that 

 he^ didn't cough as he ought, a third that there was an 

 enlargement of the near knee, a fourth thought he detected 



