THE COVERSIDE PHANTOM 



But all that glitters is not gold, 



However bright it seem ; 

 Ere long a sudden change came o'er 



The spirit of my dream ; 

 No defeat ourselves awaited 



From the man nor from his mount ; 

 No ground for the discomfort 



We had felt on his account. 



XI 



A fox was found ; the stirring sound 



That nerv'd us for the fray — 

 That hallo burst the bubble. 



And the phantom scar'd away ; 

 We cross'd the vale o'er post and rail, 



Up leaps and downward drops ; 

 But where, oh where, was the chestnut mare 



And the man with tinted tops ? 



XII 



He was not with the foremost. 



As they one and all declare ; 

 Nor was he with the hindmost, — 



He was neither here nor there ; 

 The last, they say, seen of him 



Was in front of the first fence. 

 And no one e'er could track the mare. 



Or spot the rider thence. 



149 



