ad fifty pounds; you will
therefore pay me, brother, or I shall not consider you an honourable
man." Not wishing to have any dispute about such a matter, I took five
shillings out of my under pocket, and gave them to him. Mr. Petulengro
took the money with great glee, observing--"These five shillings I will
take to the public-house forthwith, and spend in drinking with four of my
brethren, and doing so will give me an opportunity of telling the
landlord that I have found a customer for his horse, and that you are the
man. It will be as well to secure the horse as soon as possible; for
though the dook tells me that the horse is intended for you, I have now
and then found that the dook is, like myself, somewhat given to lying."

He then departed, and I remained alone in the dingle. I thought at first
that I had committed a great piece of folly in consenting to purchase
this horse; I might find no desirable purchaser for him, until the money
in my possession should be totally exhausted, and then I might be
compelled to sell him for half the price I had given for him, or be even
glad to find a person who would receive him at a gift; I should then
remain sans horse, and indebted to Mr. Petulengro. Nevertheless, it was
possible that I might sell the horse very advantageously, and by so doing
obtain a fund sufficient to enable me to execute some grand enterprise or
other. My present way of life afforded no prospect of support, whereas
the purchase of the horse did afford a possibility of bettering 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
Waist-coat--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 p