3o8 



COACHING DAYS AND COACHING WAYS 



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

 then scudded rapidly past Highgate, " hke 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 ! " 





But not so ! though the 



old Hornsey toll-bar was a 



high gate, with chevaitx de 



frise in the upper rail ! Not 



so ! thouo"h the <:rate swun^j 



into its lock ; " and like a 



'"^ ' tiger in his lair the prompt 



custodian of the turnpike, 



enscanced 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 heii^ht of the or^tc. 



2. He spoke a few words of encouragement to l^ess. 



3. He stuck spurs into her sides. 



4. He cleared the spikes by an inch. 



