Toward the latter place Challoner bent his steps, losing no time in making known his wants to his host, but he soon found, to his chagrin, that a horse could not be hired for love nor money. “Could I buy a cheap animal hereabouts?” he inquired in desperation. That put a different face on the matter. The man was quite willing to dispose of an ancient animal he owned if the stranger would pay him his price. “And what is your price?” queried Challoner, impatiently. “Fifty dollars,” answered the man, promptly. Challoner quickly concluded the bargain, although he had scarcely half that amount left in his purse. An exclamation of intense wrath, not to say an imprecation, broke from his lips on beholding his purchase; but it did little good to invoke a torrent of anger upon the host of the inn, who already had his money pocketed. “Why, that animal will not carry me five miles!” he cried, when the horse, already saddled, was led around to the front porch. “He is falling down already, and hasn’t a sound leg to stand on; and you could hang your hat on his projecting bones.” “A lean horse for a long race, my friend,” remarked his host, sagely; “you’ll find that Roger--that’s his name--will carry you the twenty miles to Greenville all right.” “And drop down dead when I get there,” said Challoner, with still another and more fierce imprecation. “I didn’t agree that he could go much farther than to Greenville,” responded the late owner of Roger; “that would depend upon how much rest you gave him when you reach there, friend.” “No doubt I can dispose of him for enough to hire a horse that is a horse to pursue the rest of my journey,” declared the disgruntled young man. “Most likely,” remarked his host. But he said to his buxom wife, who stood by, as the stranger mounted the horse and rode off at a rattling pace: “If he keeps that gait up very long, Old Roger will surely rebel and refuse to go a step for him, that’s all there is about that. He might lash him to death and he wouldn’t stir a leg when the balky notion hits him. He’ll be glad enough to swap him for a five-dollar note by the time he gets to Greenville--and Roger will soon be walking home to us again.” Roger had been a profitable animal to mine host. More than once he had sold him, and the new owner was always glad to sell him back to his previous owner at any cost. Meanwhile the new owner was galloping away at the top of the speed of his new purchase, much to the discomfiture of Roger. Mile after mile was thus traversed, until, at length, the town he was so anxious to reach loomed up in the distance before him. It was not until then that Roger’s impatience began to show itself. When he reached a green lane which led past a grand old place, the animal absolutely refused to go another step forward. This was a dilemma Challoner had not counted upon.