292 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER 



gaping round in bewilderment at the sudden appari- 

 tion of Tarn o' Slianter the Second ; their horses had 

 taken fright at the clatter of the mare, and, emulat- 

 ing her good example, bolted too and met in full 

 career. 



' At Tottenham Court Road the dandy's hat had 

 .taken leave. I tracked its owner like a fox, guided 

 by countless accidents, till I arrived at Paddington, 

 and there, emerging, from a bed of savoury 8lus\ I 

 found him ! He was in truth w^ell equipped for the 

 hero of a drawing-room ! He had pitched head 

 foremost into one of those luscious quagmires which 

 our road-sweepers sometimes accumulate at the 

 road-sides. The mud formed a rich pomatum for his 

 curly head ; the pillory could not have worked a more 

 complete metamorphosis. 



' " Carry the gemman to the pump ! " was the 

 general cry, and certainl}^ his folly deserved it. I 

 called a coach just in time to save him from friends 

 and foes, for on retracing my route I encountered 

 orange-women, costermongers, gentlemen and fish- 

 fags, all in full cry, like a pack of beagles.' ^ 



But even on the racecourse it does sometimes 

 happen that accidents of the most extraordinary 

 nature occur. For instance, it could scarcely be 

 imagined that a helmet should kill a horse going at 

 full speed, without injuring the wearer of it ; yet 



' Sir G. Stephens — Adventures of a Gentleman in Search of a 

 Horse. 



