94 



THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER 



injunction was followed to the letter, and every 

 second brought the Eagle back to me. We ap- 

 proached the distance. " Bill " made a vigorous 

 attempt to hustle his horse, but without avail. Arms 

 and legs then began to work about like a semaphore 

 teleo'raj)h, but the life had been pumped out of the 

 over-ridden animal; my horse, too, had had quite 

 enough of it ; w^e Avere now neck and neck together. 

 I made a feint, as if in greater difficulty than I was. 

 This set my antagonist again to work, and, holding 

 Douro well together, I landed bim a winner with a 

 rush, after — and very far after — the manner of Jem 

 Eobinson. The congratulations that welcomed me 

 were most gratifying. The hero of Natchitoches 

 bore his beating extremely well, his only remark to 

 me, as we entered the weighing-tent, being, " You 

 gammoned me nicely, captain, at the end ; I thought 

 that horse of yours, Ducrow, as they call him, was 

 like an old bellows with a hole in it, but somehow or 

 another there was one puff left. Come next fall to 

 Kentucky, and give me my revenge." The following 

 year the American horses proved more fortunate, 

 botb at Montreal and Quebec, thus recovering their 

 lost laurels.' 



And it may be added that more recently Mr. 

 Lorillard has put English horses and jockeys to 

 shame. However, as before said, the turf is a pursuit 

 in which one must always be prepared for unexpected 

 occurrences. Probably the French were not pre- 



