"When will you start?"

"To-morrow morning!"

"God bless you, Roger."

"I am not sure He can while I do your work," I replied.

CHAPTER IV. MY JOURNEY TO ENDELLION.

CHAPTER IV.

MY JOURNEY TO ENDELLION.

The next morning I started to ride to the home of the Killigrews. I could see that Daniel sorely wanted to accompany me, but I decided not to take him. In nine cases out of ten a man does work better when unencumbered. Mostly people who pretend to help fail to understand what is in one's mind, and as a consequence generally bungle things grievously. I did not want this matter bungled. The more I thought about it the more was I determined to see the thing through successfully. The picture of living at Trevanion, practically unharassed by debts, became more pleasant each hour. Besides as a race we were not given to bungling, and although I was little in love with the thought of having a maid for a companion, I gloried in the prospect of measuring wits, and if needs be swords, with these sturdy Killigrews. I therefore mounted my favourite horse which I called "Chestnut," on account of his colour; a horse the like of which was difficult[Pg 38] to be matched. He was going five, stood over sixteen hands high, and was of a build which united strength with speed to such a degree that half the squires in the county wanted him. I had been sorely tempted to sell him, but had never yielded to the temptation. I had always prided myself on riding the best horse in the county, and Chestnut was certainly second to none. In spite of my unusual weight he carried me easily, he would run until he dropped, and possessed tremendous staying power. Added to this, I had seen him foaled, had fed him with my own hands, and when Jenkins, the famous horse-breaker, declared to me his inability to "break him in," I had undertaken the task myself, and had succeeded. I did it by a new method, too, for I never struck him a blow. I do not attribute this to any special power I possess over horses generally, for Jenkins would in nine cases out of ten succeed where I failed. The truth was, Chestnut, when he was a colt, regarded me as a sort of playfellow and learnt 

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