It seems more in accordance with Borrow's character to repay the loan
within three days than to continue in Mr Petulengro's debt for weeks,
at one time making no actual effort to realise upon the horse. The
question as to whether Borrow received a hundred and fifty (as he
himself states) or two hundred pounds is immaterial. It is quite
likely that he sold the horse before he left the dingle, and that the
adventures he narrates may be true in all else save the continued
possession of his steed, that is, with the exception of the Francis
Ardry episode, the encounter with the man in black, and the arrival
at Horncastle during the fair. If Borrow left London on 24th May,
and he could not have left earlier, as has been shown, he must have
visited the Fair (Tamworth) with Mr Petulengro on 26th July, and set
out from Willenhall about 2nd August.

It has been pointed out by that distinguished scholar and gentleman-
gypsy, Mr John Sampson, {68a} that as the Horse Fair at Horncastle
was held 12th-21st August, if Borrow took the horse there it could
not have been in the manner described in The Romany Rye, where he is
shown as spending some considerable time at the inn, if we may judge
by the handsome cheque (10 pounds) offered to him by the landlord as
a bonus on account of his services. Then there was the accident and
the consequent lying-up at the house of the man who knew Chinese, but
could not tell what o'clock it was. To confirm Borrow's itinerary
all this must have been crowded into less than three weeks, fully a
third of which Borrow spent in recovering from his fall. This would
mean that for less than a fortnight's work, the innkeeper offered him
ten pounds as a gratuity, in addition to the bargain he had made,
which included the horse's keep.