"If he was broken-winded," said the farrier, "you had better have him
killed out of hand, but he is not; there is a sale of horses coming off
in about ten days; if you rest him and feed him up he may pick up, and
you may get more than his skin is worth, at any rate."

Upon this advice Skinner, rather unwillingly, I think, gave orders that
I should be well fed and cared for, and the stable man, happily for me,
carried out the orders with a much better will than his master had in
giving them. Ten days of perfect rest, plenty of good oats, hay,
bran mashes, with boiled linseed mixed in them, did more to get up my
condition than anything else could have done; those linseed mashes were
delicious, and I began to think, after all, it might be better to live
than go to the dogs. When the twelfth day after the accident came, I
was taken to the sale, a few miles out of London. I felt that any change
from my present place must be an improvement, so I held up my head, and
hoped for the best.

48 Farmer Thoroughgood and His Grandson Willie

At this sale, of course I found myself in company with the old
broken-down horses--some lame, some broken-winded, some old, and some
that I am sure it would have been merciful to shoot.

The buyers and sellers, too, many of them, looked not much better off
than the poor beasts they were bargaining about. There were poor old
men, trying to get a horse or a pony for a few pounds, that might drag
about some little wood or coal cart. There were poor men trying to sell
a worn-out beast for two or three pounds, rather than have the greater
loss of killing him. Some of them looked as if poverty and hard times
had hardened them all over; but there were others that I would have
willingly used the last of my strength in serving; poor and shabby, but
kind and human, with voices that I could trust. There was one tottering
old man who took a great fancy to me, and I to him, but I was not strong
enough--it was an anxious time! Coming from the better part of the fair,
I noticed a man who looked like a gentleman farmer, with a young boy by
his side; he had a broad back and round shoulders, a kind, ruddy face,
and he wore a broad-brimmed hat. When he came up to me and my companions
he stood still and gave a pitiful look round upon us. I saw his eye
rest on me; I had still a good mane and tail, which did something for my
appearance. I pricked my ears and looked at him.

"There's a horse, Willie, that h