88 CONFESSIONS OF A HORSE DEALEB. 



He had studied human nature as well as horse nature. 

 The whole transaction was divested of anything like 

 professional horse-dealing; and many of his victims 

 thought they were making a good thing out of hin^ 

 because he did not know how to make the most of his 

 master's horses, or was not sufficiently interested to do 

 so. The result was that the horses found customers as 

 fast as they were brought out of their boxes. And the 

 agent appearing so very green completely allayed suspi- 

 cion, if any ever existed, as to the sale being a lona fide 

 affair. The sale realised upwards of a thousand pounds 

 (the average value of the screws was about 10 each), 

 and, after paying the auctioneer and livery-stable 

 keeper, the agent shook hands with them both, and said 

 he was off to Liverpool to catch a Dublin steamer that 

 evening ; but he got into a Stockport omnibus and rode 

 to Stockport, and from thence proceeded to London, 

 where he arrived the same evening. 



He had only one confederate ; the " touters " were 

 only engaged for the day. The confederate went to 

 Dublin, whence he telegraphed, in the name of the 

 agent, to the auctioneer, to be kind enough to go to the 

 inn where he had slept in Manchester, and fetch a rug 

 (which had been purposely left there), and make it up 

 in a parcel, and direct it to an address in Limerick. 

 This dodge sent several victims to Ireland after th.e 

 agent; for, as maybe imagined, there was a regular 

 " hubbub " raised among some of the dupes in the courso 

 of a few days after the sale. Others, more wise, kept 



