"I would, Wamba," said the knight, "that our host of the Trysting-tree, or the jolly Friar, his chaplain, heard this thy ditty in praise of our bluff yeoman."

In very few words Nicholas bought seventeen picked stallions for six thousand rublesto serve, as he said, as samples of his remounts. After dining and taking rather too much of the Hungarian wine, Nicholashaving exchanged kisses with the landowner, with whom he was already on the friendliest termsgalloped back over abominable roads, in the brightest frame of mind, continually urging on the driver so as to be in time for the governor`s party.