1 38 Among Men and Horses. 



they are as a rule deficient in spirit. At Malta I had a big 

 class largely composed of naval officers from the flag-ship, 

 Alexandra. These fine young sailors (Mr Colville and Mr 

 Lambton, the brother of the well-known gentleman rider, 

 among others) were enthusiastic lovers of horses, and had a 

 large number of polo ponies, which they generally managed 

 to take with them wherever they went. As I used to hold my 

 breaking classes on The Marsa, a level piece of open ground 

 about a mile and a half outside the city of Valetta, on which 

 polo is played and the races are held, I often saw the Duke 

 of York play polo. He was an enthusiast about the game, 

 rode hard, and was greatly liked by his shipmates, of whom I 

 saw a good deal, both at my class and in the Union Club in 

 the Strada Reale. Among the officers of the fleet, the Duke 

 of Edinburgh was also popular and respected. In the after- 

 noons, I usually saw him and his nephew playing billiards at 

 the club. The young prince seemed full of fun and life, and 

 was well able to take his own part all round. He always 

 seemed to particularly enjoy the fact of his being able to beat 

 his uncle at billiards. Both in Malta and at Cairo I was 

 singularly unlucky in being unable to get any wild or vicious 

 horses with which to ' show off' at my classes. I need hardly 

 say that such instruction, however useful it may be, can be 

 greatly brightened up by practical illustrations of an exciting 

 and dangerous kind. My failure to obtain a single good case 

 at Malta, where all the animals were of the ' dead ' quiet 

 sort, was very galling to me ; for the Duchess and her daugh- 

 ters did me the honour, on three or four occasions, to come 

 to my class on The Marsa. At Alexandria, on the contrary, 

 where my class was only a small one, I had several good 

 show horses and a couple of refractory mules. Such is life ! 

 Thanks to the friendly offices of poor Colonel Valentine 

 Baker, * Bobby ' Kekewich of my old regiment and others, 

 I had a large gathering at Cairo, where I saw a good deal of 

 Colonel Baker. He had singularly charming manners, and 

 was loved by everyone who knew him. General Grenfell was 



