I
therefore, when I had paid for him, said to the seller, 'Now, my
friend, you have got your money and I the horse, so that the bargain
is closed; but do, like an honest fellow, tell me fairly of any fault
which he has.' 'Why, sir,' says he, 'you have dealt with me like a
gentleman, and as you ask me to be frank with you, I must tell you
that the horse has one fault.' I pricked up my ears: 'What is it, my
friend?' 'Why, sir,' says he, 'it is that he will not go into the yard
of the Crown Inn at Uxbridge.' 'Pooh, pooh,' said I, 'if that is all,
I'm not likely to put him to the trial, as I have nothing to do with,
or to lead me to Uxbridge.'
"It however so happened, that I had occasion to go to Uxbridge, and I
determined to try if my horse retained his dislike to the yard of the
Crown Inn. I accordingly rode up the street until I came opposite to
the inn-yard of the Crown. I faced about," said the sergeant, "seated
myself firmly in my stirrups," at the same time exhibiting the
attitude in which the feat was to be performed. "Expecting a plunge
from my horse, I stuck my spurs into his sides, and pushed him forward
into the yard; but what was my surprise to find him enter the yard as
quietly as a cow that had just gone in before him. But I was not long
in doubt as to what appeared to be the cause of this change in his
antipathies, by the landlord's coming up to him and tapping him on the
shoulder: 'Ha, Jack!' says he, 'I'm glad to see you again; I thought I
had lost you.
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