36 CONFESSIONS OF A HOESE DEALER. 



" Yes ! Who and what are you that you should no* 

 be spoken to ?" 



" Go about your business, you low, ignorant fellow !" 



" It's our business to give you in charge of the police, 

 if we did it properly." 



"What for ?" 



"What for? Why, for offering a broken -backed horse 

 for sale ; we know you." 



" I'm not offering any horse for sale ; I have only just 

 bought him." 



" Come along, Sam, you're mistaken ; he's a fool, not 

 a rogue. Beg your pardon, sir ; we took you for a coper, 

 and it seems you are a flat. Good bye ! We wish you 

 luck with < old Robert.'" 



" Whatever can be the meaning of this ?" said the 

 gentleman to his groom. 



"I really don't know, sir." 



" Surely the horse is all right ; but I have a warranty, 

 and the gentleman from whom I purchased him said that 

 he was the Vicar of . Then again " 



He was interrupted here by another of the same firm, 

 who had contrived to meet him at a cross road on the 

 outskirts of the town. " Two quid for the old Bobby," 

 .eaid this individual, holding out a halfpenny in his left 

 hand, the right hand at arm's length, and grasping a 

 well-worn ash-plant. 



"Now, my good man, I really don't know what 

 your meaning is when you call this horse an ' old 

 Bobby.' 



