sion
of the animal for me," said he to the other jockey who attended him. "You
will please to do no such thing without my consent," said I, "I have not
sold him." "I have this moment told you that I will give you the price
you demand," said his lordship; "is not that sufficient?" "No," said I,
"there is a proper manner of doing everything--had you come forward in a
manly and gentlemanly manner to purchase the horse, I should have been
happy to sell him to you, but after all the fault you have found with
him, I would not sell him to you at any price, so send your friend to
find up another." "You behave in this manner, I suppose," said his
lordship, "because this fellow has expressed a willingness to come to
your terms. I would advise you to be cautious how you trust the animal
in his hands; I think I have seen him before, and could tell you--" "What
can you tell of me?" said the other, going up to him; "except that I have
been a poor dicky-boy, and that now I am a dealer in horses, and that my
father was lagged; that's all you could tell of me, and that I don't mind
telling myself: but there are two things they can't say of me, they can't
say that I am either a coward or a screw either, except so far as one who
gets his bread by horses may be expected to be; and they can't say of me
that I ever ate up an ice which a young woman was waiting for, or that I
ever backed out of a fight. Horse!" said he, motioning with his finger
tauntingly to the other; "what do you want with a horse, except to take
the bread out of the mouth of a poor man--to-morrow is not the battle of
Waterloo, so that you don't want to back out of danger, by pretending to
have hurt yourself by falling from the creature's back, my lord of the
white feather--come, none of your fierce looks--I am not afraid of you."
In fact, the other had assumed an expression of the deadliest malice, his
teeth were clenched, his lips quivered, and were quite pale; the rat-like
eyes sparkled, and he made a half spring, a la rat, towards his
adversary, who only laughed. Restraining himself, however, he suddenly
turned to his understrapper, saying, "Symmonds, will you see me thus
insulted? go and trounce this scoundrel; you can, I know." "Symmonds
trounce me!" said the other, going up to the person addressed, and
drawing his hand contemptuously over his face; "why, I beat Symmonds in
this very yard in one round three years ago; didn't I, Symmonds?" said he
to the unders