3 o8 



COACHING DAYS AND COACHING WAYS 



ingly charging a gate, and clearing it in gallant style. He 

 then scudded rapidly past Highgate, " like a swift-sailing 

 schooner with three lumbering Indiamen in her wake/' 

 And so through Du Val Lane— (what tender recollections 

 must here have possessed that manly breast) into Hornsey 

 — where the turnpike fellow closed the toll-bar in his face, 

 and the " three lumbering East Indiamen " (the meta- 

 phors here become a trifle mixed — but no matter) cried 

 aloud, " The gate is shut ! We have him ! Ha ! Ha ! " 





- ■ mumkM 





Irnham Hall. 



But not so ! though the 



i old Hornsey toll-bar was a 



• high gate, with clievaux de 



\ frise in the upper rail ! Not 



) so ! though the gate swung 



into its lock ; " and like a 



tiger in his lair the prompt 



custodian of the turnpike, 



ensconced within his doorway, held himself in readiness 



to spring upon the runaway." Not so ! For what did 



Dick do ? He did four things. 



1. He coollv calculated the height of the gate. 



2. He spoke a few words of encouragement to Bess. 



3. He stuck spurs into her sides. 



4. He cleared the spikes by an inch. 



