aking the horse,
though it was against my will, for I'd got an itch for a mare o'
Jortin's--as rare a bit o' blood as ever you threw your leg across.
But I shall keep Wildfire, now I've got him, though I'd a bid of a
hundred and fifty for him the other day, from a man over at
Flitton--he's buying for Lord Cromleck--a fellow with a cast in his
eye, and a green waistcoat. But I mean to stick to Wildfire: I shan't
get a better at a fence in a hurry. The mare's got more blood, but
she's a bit too weak in the hind-quarters."

Bryce of course divined that Dunstan wanted to sell the horse, and
Dunstan knew that he divined it (horse-dealing is only one of many
human transactions carried on in this ingenious manner); and they both
considered that the bargain was in its first stage, when Bryce replied
ironically--

"I wonder at that now; I wonder you mean to keep him; for I never heard
of a man who didn't want to sell his horse getting a bid of half as
much again as the horse was worth. You'll be lucky if you get a
hundred."

Keating rode up now, and the transaction became more complicated. It
ended in the purchase of the horse by Bryce for a hundred and twenty,
to be paid on the delivery of Wildfire, safe and sound, at the
Batherley stables. It did occur to Dunsey that it might be wise for
him to give up the day's hunting, proceed at once to Batherley, and,
having waited for Bryce's return, hire a horse to carry him home with
the money in his pocket. But the inclination for a run, encouraged by
confidence in his luck, and by a draught of brandy from his
pocket-pistol at the conclusion of the bargain, was not easy to
overcome, especially with a horse under him that would take the fences
to the admiration of the field. Dunstan, however, took one fence too
many, and got his horse pierced with a hedge-stake. His own
ill-favoured person, which was quite unmarketable, escaped without
injury; but poor Wildfire, unconscious of his price, turned on his
flank and painfully panted his last. It happened that Dunstan, a short
time before, having had to get down to arrange his stirrup, had
muttered a good many curses at this interruption, which had thrown him
in the rear of the hunt near the moment of glory, and under this
exasperation had taken the fences more blindly. He would soon have
been up with the hounds again, when the fatal accident happened; and
hence he was between eager riders in advance, not troubling themselves
abo