9'2 EACECOUESE AND COVEET SIDE. 



An argument followed, and in the end the 

 liorse was left in the stable, and the blacksmith 

 walked off with a cheque for .£90 in his pocket. 



A few days afterwards Fearstone rode him 

 hunting. He got well away, crossed a couple of 

 fields, delighted with his bargain, when all of a 

 sudden the horse stopped dead short, stuck out 

 his forelegs, hung down his head, and looked as if 

 he were going to die. Fearstone slipped off and 

 gazed at his new purchase with curiosity and 

 alarm. A vet. from a neighbouring town pulled 

 up also, and getting out of his saddle examined 

 the horse. 



''What's wrong with the brute ? " Fearstone 

 asked. " I never knew a horse do that before." 



The vet. pointed to the flanks. Instead of 

 the regular respiration a sort of double beat was 

 perceptible. 



" He's got heart disease, my lord. He 

 needn't die of it, but he'll always be liable to 

 stop like that," the expert answered ; while Fear- 

 stone looked at the unhappy beast, at the field 

 just disappearing round the corner of a distant 

 covert, and in all directions for his second horse. 

 This animal was nowhere to be seen, and the 

 vet. was not going to lose his run for nothing. 



'' I'm afraid I can't be of any service, my 

 lord. I'll get on, I think," he remarked ; and in 



