The Sport of Our Ancestors 



I 've got one in that box, as I think, just is more than 

 curious/ 



' Would he carry me ? ' asks Mr. Sawyer, with well- 

 affected indifference, as if he had not come over expressly 

 to find one that would. ' Not that I want a horse, you know ; 

 but if I saw one I liked very much, and you didn't price him 

 too high, why I might be induced to buy against next season, 

 perhaps.' 



Job took his hands out of his coat-pockets, and spread 

 them abroad, as it were to dry. The action denoted extreme 

 purity and candour. 



' No ; I don't think as he ought to carry you^ sir,' was 

 the unexpected reply. ' Now, I ain't a-going to tell you 

 a lie, Mr. Sawyer. This horse didn't ought to be ridden, 

 not the way you take and ride him, Mr. Sawyer ; leastways 

 not over such a blind heart-breaking country as this here. 

 He 's too good, he is, for that kind of work ; he ought to be 

 in Leicestershire, he ought ; the Harborough country, that 's 

 the country for him. He 's too fast for us, and that 's the 

 truth. Only, to be sure, we have a vast of plough here- 

 about, and I never see such a sticker through dirt. It 

 makes no odds to him, pasture or plough, and the sweetest 

 hack ever I clapped eyes on besides. However, you shall 

 judge for yourself, Mr. Sawyer. I won't ask you to believe 

 me. You 've a quicker eye to a horse than I have, by a 

 long chalk, and I 'd sooner have your opinion than my own. 

 I would now, and that 's the truth ! ' 



Our purchaser began to think he might possibly have 



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