“I calculate you are wrong there, Mister Longshanks. Why, I know that hoss you are riding. He is forty years old. Some say that he was brought over in the Mayflower; some say not. A man like you oughtn’t to ride such a horse. Look at Mynheer Swedlepipe, and see what a hoss he rides! I s’pose you have heard how I sold the other one to him. That was all a mistake, and I have made it all right. Haven’t I, Mynheer Swedlepipe?”
“Yaw;” said Paul. “Dat ish goot now; dat vash bad hoss, dis ish goot von.”
Ten Eyck looked at the prancing pony with infinite disgust. Such was the nature of the two men, that one could not bear to have the other possess any thing which he could not get. Every prance of the Narragansett, every shake of his long tail, went to the tall man’s very heart. As for Swedlepipe, his face fairly beamed with exultation, and he stuttered in his joy, when he attempted to speak.
“The fact is, Mynheer Ten Eyck,” said Boston, “you don’t know who to buy a horse of, and you get cheated. Now I will tell you, in confidence, that there are several men in Windsor who would not hesitate to cheat you, upon any occasion. But, I have a character to lose; I must deal in a good article. If I sell you bad goods or a bad hoss, you will not buy of me again. Do you see?”
Ten Eyck saw.
“Very good, then. If you had bought a horse from me, it would have been a good one, if you paid me a good price. Of course you wouldn’t expect a very good horse for a very poor price. That’s plain enough, is it not?”
“You got long tongue, Boston,” said Ten Eyck. “Have you got a hoss to sell?”
“I can’t rightly say that I have a hoss just now. But I know where I can put my hand upon one within five hours.”
“Steal him?”
“You say that again, and I’ll drive your long legs four feet into the ground,” cried Boston, turning upon the Dutchman in sudden wrath. “Hark ye, sir. I am a plain man, and I speak plain language. In the way of trade I’ll get as much out of a man for as little in return, as any man in the five colonies. But, I won’t take ‘thief’ from any man. So look out.”