Having at length got all he could out of Tom, Sir Moses then let the hounds flow past him, while he held back for our Billy to come up. They were presently trotting along together a little in the rear of Joe, the second whip.
“I’ve surely seen that horse before,” at length observed Sir Moses, after a prolonged stare at our friend’s steed.
“Very likely,” replied Billy, “I bought him of the Major.”
“The deuce you did!” exclaimed Sir Moses, “then that’s the horse young Tabberton had.”
“What, you know him, do you?” asked Billy.
“Know him! I should think so,” rejoined Moses; “everybody knows him.”
“Indeed!” observed Billy, wondering whether for good or evil.
“I dare say, now, the Major would make you give thirty, or five-and-thirty pounds for that horse,” observed Sir Moses, after another good stare.
“Far more!” replied Billy, gaily, who was rather proud of having given a hundred guineas.
“Far more!” exclaimed Sir Moses with energy; “far more! Ah!” added he, with a significant shake of the head, “he’s an excellent man, the Major—an excellent man,—but a leetle too keen in the matter of horses.”