ering my condition, so, after all, had I not done right in consenting
to purchase the horse? the purchase was to be made with another person's
property it is true, and I did not exactly like the idea of speculating
with another person's property, but Mr. Petulengro had thrust his money
upon me, and if I lost his money, he could have no one but himself to
blame; so I persuaded myself that I had upon the whole done right, and
having come to that persuasion I soon began to enjoy the idea of finding
myself on horseback again, and figured to myself all kinds of strange
adventures which I should meet with on the roads before the horse and I
should part company.

CHAPTER XIX

TRYING THE HORSE--THE FEATS OF TAWNO--MAN WITH THE RED
WAISTCOAT--DISPOSAL OF PROPERTY

I saw nothing more of Mr. Petulengro that evening; on the morrow,
however, he came and informed me that he had secured the horse for me,
and that I was to go and pay for it at noon. At the hour appointed,
therefore, I went with Mr. Petulengro and Tawno to the public, where, as
before, there was a crowd of company. The landlord received us in the
bar with marks of much satisfaction and esteem, made us sit down, and
treated us with some excellent mild draught ale. 'Who do you think has
been here this morning?' he said to me. 'Why that fellow in black, who
came to carry me off to a house of Popish devotion, where I was to pass
seven days and nights in meditation, as I think he called it, before I
publicly renounced the religion of my country. I read him a pretty
lecture, calling him several unhandsome names, and asking him what he
meant by attempting to seduce a churchwarden of the Church of England. I
tell you what, he ran some danger, for some of my customers, learning his
errand, laid hold on him, and were about to toss him in a blanket, and
then duck him in the horse-pond. I, however, interfered, and said that
what he came about was between me and him, and that it was no business of
theirs. To tell you the truth, I felt pity for the poor devil, more
especially when I considered that they merely sided against him because
they thought him the weakest, and that they would have wanted to serve me
in the same manner had they considered me a down pin; so I rescued him
from their hands, told him not to be afraid, for that nobody should touch
him, and offered to treat him to some cold gin and water with a lump of
sugar in it; and, on his refusing, told him t