I would not allow my wife to ride
such a dangerous brute, for, as I told you, I have not been long
married."
Antonio framed his face to express astonishment and virtue indignant;
then with the point of his knife he scratched the figure of a cross
on the ground, and was about to swear solemnly on it that I was
egregiously mistaken, that his beast was a kind of equine angel, ora
Pegasus, at least, when I interfered to stop him. "Tell as many lies
as you like," I said, "and I will listen to them with the greatest
interest; but do not swear on the figure of the cross to what is false,
for then the four or five or six dollars profit you have made on the
side-saddle will scarcely be sufficient to buy you absolution for such
a sin."
He shrugged his shoulders and restored the sacrilegious knife to its
sheath. "There are my horses," he said in an injured tone. "They are
a kind of animal you seem to know a great deal about; select one and
deceive yourself. I have endeavoured to serve you; but there are some
people who do not know a friend when they see one."
I then minutely examined all the other horses, and finally finished
the farce by leading out the roan cream-nose, and was pleased to notice
the crestfallen expression of my good shepherd.
"Your horses do not suit me," I said, "so I cannot buy one. I will,
however, purchase this old cow; for it is the only animal here I could
trust my wife on.
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