THE WIG. 17 



of the guard ; but Jocko held on his way until he can- 

 noned against the quarters of two troopers in the rear 

 rank, and, fairly dovetailing himself between them, 

 stopped as only troop horses do stop all of a sudden, 

 and pitched his rider on to the croup of the horse in 

 front, fortunately without serious injury. Old Jocko 

 could not be induced to leave the ranks without company, 

 and the colonel kindly ordered him. a mounted escort, to 

 whom, on their way back to the brewer's stables, he re- 

 lated the particulars, as communicated by me to my 

 readers. After this, old Jocko again fell into the hands 

 of the same gang of copers, and was frequently sold 

 with a false tail, and rebought by their agents with a 

 bare stump ; and once he was sold to a gentleman, who 

 rode him home from a fair after dark, with his old stump 

 decorated with long streamers of ribbon representing all 

 the colours of the rainbow. 



This was the ruse of some rival copers, who succeeds 

 in prejudicing the purchaser against Jocko, and finally 

 bought him for a mere trifle. And I know for a fact 

 that Jocko was sold and rebought for more than two 

 years ; the coper's main points were to " wig" his 

 stumpy tail, and sell him to some purchaser who wanted 

 a horse to go steady in harness. If a trial was required, 

 he was dosed with opium, and those who knew his 

 "little peculiarities" would drive him a few yards and 

 then take him out, and give a warranty " that he was 

 quiet in harness." And so he was; but it was the 

 vehicle that bothered him most, and he seldom rested 



c 



