EARLY TRIALS. 147 



What a delicious warmth has succeeded to the death-like 

 chill of a few moments ago, and with what a torrent of song are 

 the larks proclaiming their conviction that it is very good to be 

 alive ! Then I fall to wondering why it is that nowadays one 

 hardly ever hears a lark except on the Downs. 



A muffled sound as of blows rapidly dealt on the thick 

 dripping turf; a sound dull and distant at first, but becoming 

 momentarily more distinct ; the quadrupedum sonitus strikes 

 my ear ; and see ! here they come, breasting the sharp incline 

 one, two, three, four : what a pace they are going ! When 

 . they get within a hundred yards of my position, three right 

 arms rise simultaneously high in air, and three out of four 

 riders set-to desperately ; the fourth sits motionless, and, for a 

 few strides, keeps alongside his companions, and then a long- 

 legged, ungainly, lop-eared colt gallops clean away from the 

 rest of the party, manifestly increasing his lead as they pass me, 

 and as the ascent becomes steeper. A furlong or two off I see 

 them pull up, turn round and stand still for a few seconds ; 

 then they come sauntering back in their tracks, preceded by 

 two men on foot conversing earnestly. As they approach I 

 catch the words, * The old one at even weights ! I couldn't 

 have believed it ; and yet it's true, sir, true as I'm standing 

 here ! ' Then after exchanging a cheery greeting with the poor 

 invalid who comes so often for his stroll on their training 

 grounds, they opine that the young ones have had a rousing 

 gallop, express a confident hope that the day has now cleared 

 up for good, and pass slowly on. 



Now come the horses, and I scan them curiously as they 

 defile past me. The leader of the small string, evidently the 

 ' old one ' referred to, slouches sulkily along ; his head is hang- 

 ing down, and on his streaming flanks have arisen one or two 

 lumps from which the red drops are oozing. I can almost fancy 

 I hear him saying to himself, ' After all the pretty pupils I have 

 dressed over this year, to be cut to ribbons by this three- 

 cornered beggar is enough to make me swear never to try 



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