92 THE POST AND THE PADDOCK. 



up to the Duke, and advised him not to back the 

 horse for a halfpenny, as no jockey yet had been able 

 to make him do his best. Chifney had never been 

 on him before ; but he simply replied, when the 

 Duke reported this speech to him "I'll let Sir 

 Frank Standish see whether I can get him out or not ; 

 and what's more, I'll neither use whip nor spur to 

 him" The other jockeys were so fully aware of 

 Eagle's sluggishness, that they positively walked 

 the first three miles and a quarter of the Round 

 Course, and then came along as hard as they could 

 split for the last three furlongs. However, these 

 tactics did not answer, as Eagle could not withstand 

 the masterly bit pressure which was at once brought 

 to bear on him, and won a very fine race by a neck, 

 without being touched by whip or spur. 



If our old friends the beetle-hunters had chanced 

 to turn their steps towards the Bury Hill, on that 

 pleasant July evening, instead of .taking a clerical 

 reconnaissance of the Devil's Dyke, they might have 

 passed a merry cricketing group, in which Will and 

 Sam Chifney were bearing a hand. Frank Buckle 

 was then in the very prime of manhood ; Robinson 

 and Harry Edwards were only teething, and Sam 

 Chifney still wanted some months of eleven. Will 

 Chifney, who was two years senior to hi* brother, 

 was thrice as active in all his ways and movements ; 

 and even at cricket, while the former might be seen 

 indefatigable and hot-faced in batting, bowling, and 

 fielding, the latter -stretched himself lazily on the 

 grass till his innings came round, and then made 

 the pace so bad between wickets, that his scorer had 

 generally a sinecure. The very different tempera- 

 ments which even cricket practice elicited, had full 

 scope under the rigid but ever affectionate tuition of 

 their father ; and while he carefully grounded Will 

 in the rudiments of that training lore of which Priam 

 and Zinganee were destined to be of such enduring 



