As soon as we entered, Mr. Slick called my attention to
the carriages which were exhibited for sale, to their
elegant shape and "beautiful fixins," as he termed it;
but ridiculed, in no measured terms, their enormous
weight. "It is no wonder," said he, "they have to get
fresh hosses here every ten miles, and travellin' costs
so much, when the carriage alone is enough to kill beasts.
What would Old Bull say, if I was to tell him of one pair
of hosses carryin' three or four people, forty or fifty
miles a-day, day in and day out, hand runnin' for a
fortnight? Why, he'd either be too civil to tell me it
was a lie, or bein' afeerd I'd jump down his throat if
he did, he'd sing dumb, and let me see by his looks, he
thought so, though.

"I intend to take the consait out of these chaps, and
that's a fact. If I don't put the leak into 'em afore
I've done with them, my name ain't Sam Slick, that's a
fact. I'm studyin' the ins and the outs of this place,
so as to know what I am about, afore I take hold; for I
feel kinder skittish about my men. Gentlemen are the
lowest, lyinest, bullyinest, blackguards there is, when
they choose to be; 'specially if they have rank as well
as money. A thoroughbred cheat, of good blood, is a
clipper, that's a fact. They ain't right up-and-down,
like a cow's tail, in their dealin's; and they've got
accomplices, fellers that will lie for 'em like any thing,
for the honour of their company; and bettin', onder such
circumstances, ain't safe.