164 OXFORD 



to the liGcad of one of them to undo the halter, when a 

 man in a rough great coat, and with a very gruff voice, 

 asked me what I was about. 



I told him I was about to take the horses away, as they 

 were my property. 



" Touch them at your peril," said the man. 



Nothing daunted, I proceeded to put my intention in 

 force, when very high words ensued, and I was anticipat- 

 ing something like a push or a blow, when he produced a 

 paper signed by the mayor of Oxford, authorizing him to 

 keep possession of the said horses. 



Satisfied with this, I desisted, and remonstrated with 

 the man for not telling me as much before. 



" So I should," he replied, " had you not been so hasty." 



I acknowledged my error, and rewarded him with 

 half-a-crown ; went in and asked him to follow me and 

 have a glass of purl, for it was a cold morning — not that 

 I joined him in that favourite beverage of a certain class. 

 He locked the stable-door, and told me that the mayor, 

 havino; received information of the ino-enious contrivances 

 of the jDseudo- Colonel, and of his entry within his juris- 

 diction, had had him taken into custody ; and that he was 

 then in Oxford Gaol, and would be brought up before the 

 magistrates at eleven o'clock. 



AYhen my fellow-traveller came down to breakfast I 

 informed him what had taken place, at which he seemed 

 highly pleased, and, after finishing our morning's meal, 

 we repaired to the town hall. To our great disappoint- 

 ment, we found the jDrisoner had been discharged ; and 

 on making our case known, the mayor referred us to the 

 town-clerk, to whose office we went ; w^hen that func- 



