70 Hu7iting in the Golden Days. 



putting myself in training for a steeplechase. For you 

 must know that it is not so many years ago that my 

 name was not unknown between the flags." 



"Very good," said Winebold. "I shall not disap- 

 point you, and may the best man win." 



It may, perhaps, seem ludicrous to the reader to hear 



of two gentlemen who scale between sixteen and 



seventeen stone in the buff, talking as though they were 



veritable flyers of the chase ; but it is wonderful when 



one is put on one's metal after dinner how small the 



fences seem to become and how great our hearts grow. 



" I shall start to-morrow," says Winebold, " and put 



myself into thorough training. Two suits of old clothes, 



a couple of great coats, four pints of hot water taken 



inwardly, and five miles in and out, methinks, will soon 



reduce me to something like a racing weight." 



This remark is greeted with a round of applause. 



" Well done, Winebold ! that's right, never put your 



hand to the plough and turn back. Sit well back and 



chuck your heart over the fences first." 



" I shall be out every morning just after sunrise," 

 says Oldwig, thinking he must make some retort to 

 this sally, *' and give Dragoon his morning gallops, 

 for I have always found, with my training experience, 

 that you can always do more before breakfast than at any 

 other time. I remember what training I was in when 

 Lord Ukshire came and begged and implored me to 

 ride his bay filly for the Ukshire Stakes, and, I think, if 

 I am not mistaken, that after three weeks or so I shall 

 be as fit as I was then." 



A willing and eager committee is at once formed to 

 organise the meeting. The money is staked, the scene 

 of the event being kept a complete secret by these 

 gentlemen, so as not to give either rider a preference 



