I70 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER 



that denoted hilarity too hearty to be laughed at. 

 He hid his face under the flap of the Splasher's 

 saddle as he pretended to girth him up, and then 

 said : 



i ii Why, his Grace is a kind gentleman, but, darn 

 it, he has not left you much choice this time. Hell- 

 fire Jack will run away with master hisself when he 

 likes, and he, you know, sir, could pull that there 

 tree up by the roots as easy as I could a stick of 

 celery; and, as for the Splasher, why he's the 

 devil ! " 



' This was true comfort for a man whose leg had 

 been broken, only about a year before, '' all to pash," 

 as Will said, and anything but a " bruiser " at the 

 best. I was in a " fix," as the Yankees say, but too 

 game to show it. " I'll take the chestnut," said I, 

 " to be going on with, and if I can't manage him, I'll 

 try the other." 



i " Why, burn my breeches," said Will, '^ but 

 you have a good heart, sir ! " Very ! thought I, and 

 mounted. 



' The Duke here made his appearance, licking his 

 lips, and cracking his whip, to make his cursed brutes 

 more wicked than ever, as I firmly believe. He also 

 mounted, and set off at a gallop over the park, 

 followed like anything mad by myself on Hell-fire 

 Jack, till we got to the covert, where my troubles 

 commenced in earnest. The horse I was on was, 

 without the least exaggeration, fully sixteen-three, of 



