Prev | Current Page 347 | Next

Borrow, George Henry, 1803-1881

"The Romany Rye"

" "Another
word, young man," said the jockey; but without staying to hear what
he had to say, I put the horse to his best trot, and re-entering
the town, and threading my way as well as I could through the
press, I returned to the yard of the inn, where, dismounting, I
stood still, holding the horse by the bridle.
I had been standing in this manner about five minutes, when I saw
the jockey enter the yard, accompanied by another individual. They
advanced directly towards me. "Here is my lord come to look at the
horse, young man," said the jockey. My lord, as the jockey called
him, was a tall figure, of about five-and-thirty. He had on his
head a hat somewhat rusty, and on his back a surtout of blue rather
the worse for wear. His forehead, if not high, was exceedingly
narrow; his eyes were brown, with a rat-like glare in them; the
nose was rather long, and the mouth very wide; the cheek-bones
high, and the cheeks, as to hue and consistency, exhibiting very
much the appearance of a withered red apple; there was a gaunt
expression of hunger in the whole countenance. He had scarcely
glanced at the horse, when drawing in his cheeks, he thrust out his
lips very much after the manner of a baboon, when he sees a piece
of sugar held out towards him. "Is this horse yours?" said he,
suddenly turning towards me, with a kind of smirk.


Pages:
335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359