rom the time of Thurtell and Hunt's
trial for the murder of Mr. Weare).

Alas! our respectability was gone--I mean the gig.

In vindication of the wisdom and foresight of Charley and myself, I
should like to mention that we had entrusted that valuable evidence of
our status to the keeping of a worthy stranger dressed in an old red
jacket and a pair of corduroy trousers fastened with a wisp of hay
below the knees.

When we arrived at the spot where he promised to wait our coming, he
was gone, the horse and gig too; nor could any inquiries ascertain
their whereabouts.

Whether this incident was a judgment on the Quaker, as Wright
suggested, or one of the inevitable incidents attendant on a
prize-fight, I am not in a position to say; but we thought it served
the Quaker right for letting us a horse that would not go until the
gentleman in the red jacket relieved us of any further trouble on that
account.

Mistakes are so common amongst thieves that one can never tell how the
horse got away; but if I were put on my oath, knowing the proclivities
of the animal, I should say that he was backed out of the field.

We were now, as it seemed, the most deplorable objects in creation:
without friends and without a gig, wet through, shelterless, amidst
a crowd of drunken, loathsome outcasts of society, with only one
solitary comfort between us--a pipe, which Charley enjoyed and I
loathed. Drink is always quarrelsome or affectionate, generally the
one first and the other after. When the tears dry, oaths begin, and we
soon found that the quarrelsome stage of the company had been reached.

Amidst all this excitement we had not forgotten that this little
matter of the prize-fight was but an incident on our journey to
Newmarket. We knew full well that our present appearance would have
found no recognition in the Mall. But we cared nothing for the Mall,
as we were not known by the fashion in the racing world; and as for
the others, we should like to avoid them in any world.

You will wonder in these circumstances what we did. We waited where we
were through the whole of that wet afternoon, and then, on a couple of
hacks--how we obtained them I don't know; I never asked Charley,
and nothing of any importance turns upon them--we arrived at our
comfortable Royston quarters about eight o'clock, tired to death.

We were received with a hearty welcome by my uncle, who was much
entertained with our day's adventures. He liked my descrip