nd increased size seemed to
have been given, without any diminution of the enduring qualities of the
Exmoor.

The sale was great fun. Perched on convenient rails, we had the whole
scene before us. The auctioneer rather hoarse and quite matter-of-fact;
the ponies wildly rushing about the first enclosure, were with
difficulty separated into pairs to be driven in the sale section; when
fairly hemmed in through the open gate, they dashed and made a sort of
circus circuit, with mane and tail erect, in a style that would draw
great applause at Astley's. Then there was the difficulty of deciding
whether the figures marked in white on the animal's hind-quarters were 8
or 3 or 5. Instead of the regular trot up and down of Tattersall's, a
whisk of a cap was sufficient to produce a tremendous caper. A very
pretty exhibition was made by a little mare, with a late foal about the
size of a setter dog.[228-*]

The sale over, a most amusing scene ensued: every man who had bought a
pony wanted to catch it. In order to clear the way, each lot, as sold,
as wild and nearly as active as deer, had been turned into the field. A
joint-stock company of pony-catchers, headed by the champion wrestler of
the district--a hawk-nosed, fresh-complexioned, rustic Don Juan--stood
ready to be hired, at the moderate rate of sixpence per pony caught and
delivered. One carried a bundle of new halters; the others, warmed by a
liberal distribution of beer, seemed as much inspired by the fun as the
sixpence. When the word was given, the first step was to drive a herd
into the lowest corner of the field in as compact a mass as possible.
The bay, gray, or chestnut, from that hour doomed to perpetual slavery
and exile from his native hills, was pointed out by the nervous anxious
purchaser. Three wiry fellows crept cat-like among the mob, sheltering
behind some tame cart-horses; on a mutual signal they rushed on the
devoted animal; two--one bearing a halter--strove to fling each one arm
round its neck, and with one hand to grasp its nostrils--while the
insidious third, clinging to the flowing tail; tried to throw the poor
quadruped off its balance. Often they were baffled in the first effort,
for with one wild spring the pony would clear the whole lot, and flying
with streaming mane and tail across the brook up the field, leave the
whole work to be recommenced. Sometimes when the feat was cleverly
performed, pony and pony-catchers were to be seen all rolling on t