A TEOT POK A FIVER. 73 



" After the shoe was replaced, the horse was trotted 

 slowly oyer the stones, and sure enough the surmises of 

 the farrier were too correct, for he was dead lame, and 

 a veterinary surgeon pronounced him to be suffering from 

 ' acute founder/ I sought, hut never found the rascal 

 from whom I hough t him, and after keeping the horse 

 for some time, I sold him for 3. 



" And now, sir," said this victim of horse-coping to 

 me, "what steps would you advise me to take in order 

 to obtain a horse to suit me ?" 



"Well," said I, "you. must go to a respectable 

 licensed horse dealer, confess your ignorance, and trust 

 to his honour to select you a sound horse suitable for 

 your purpose, at a reasonable price, or buy a ginger- 

 bread one, and then, if you don't like him, you can eat 

 him." 



"I'll trot you for a 'fiver/ sir," said ti dapper-looking 

 country coper who was riding a very good sort of saddle 

 cob, to a fresh. complexioned, elderly gentleman, well 

 known to this coper's confederates as being very fond of 

 fast trotting horses, but who knew the pace of this cob 

 to be much more than an equal match for the best of 

 the gentleman's stud, which was an aged chestnut with 

 a docked tail of the old Bank of England stamp of other 

 days, and upon which he was now mounted. These two 

 individuals appeared to have met on the road casually. 

 The coper being overtaken by the gentleman riding up 

 at a slinging trot, and then taking his pace, they w r alked 

 their horses side by side together. But in reality the 



