he call' me a' ole fool, en got so mad he ain' spoke ter me sence. Hit's
monst'us quare. But dis is a quare worl', anyway yer kin fix it,"
concluded the old man, with a weary sigh.

"Ef you makes up yo' min' not ter buy dat mule, suh," he added, as he
rose to go, "I knows a man w'at 's got a good hoss he wants ter
sell,--leas'ways dat's w'at I heared. I'm gwine ter pra'rmeetin'
ter-night, en I'm gwine right by de man's house, en ef you 'd lack ter
look at de hoss, I'll ax 'im ter fetch him roun'."

"Oh, yes," I said, "you can ask him to stop in, if he is passing. There
will be no harm in looking at the horse, though I rather think I shall
buy a mule."

Early next morning the man brought the horse up to the vineyard. At that
time I was not a very good judge of horseflesh. The horse appeared
sound and gentle, and, as the owner assured me, had no bad habits. The
man wanted a large price for the horse, but finally agreed to accept a
much smaller sum, upon payment of which I became possessed of a very
fine-looking animal. But alas for the deceitfulness of appearances! I
soon ascertained that the horse was blind in one eye, and that the sight
of the other was very defective; and not a month elapsed before my
purchase developed most of the diseases that horse-flesh is heir to, and
a more worthless, broken-winded, spavined quadruped never disgraced the
noble name of horse. After worrying through two or three months of life,
he expired one night in a fit of the colic. I replaced him with a mule,
and Julius henceforth had to take his chances of driving some
metamorphosed unfortunate.

Circumstances that afterwards came to my knowledge created in my mind a