254 REMINISCENCES OF SONEPORE. 



by the way, aTirhoot butcher's son. Colonel Need soon after 

 this bought Daybreak and once more Bertie got him home at 

 Umballa in the Ladies' Plate Hurdle Race. At Meerut he 

 won the Meerut Cup Chase on Shamrock, property of Colonel 

 Montmorency of the 59th Regiment. At Agra he steered his 

 old pet, War Eagle, to victory in the All Horse Chase and 

 won the Arab and C. B. Chase on Shamrock and the Pony 

 Chase on Charsley Thomas' Kitty ^a grand day. At Bally- 

 gunge he would have won the cup on War Eagle, but went 

 the wrong course when turning the home corner. At Luck- 

 now he was again lucky enough to win the Goomtee and 

 Handicap Chases on Firefly, who had never seen a jump till 

 the day before the race. In 1875 Bertie was still living at 

 Mussoorie but used to attend all the N.-W. fixtures regularly, 

 and in May he was asked to buy a couple of nags by Mr. 

 Charley Mangles and to take charge of and train them at 

 Dehra, he bought that nice mare Finette from Kelly Maitland 

 and he had Lothair and one or two others in his stable. It 

 was there that he met with the terrible accident which de- 

 prived him of his right hand. One morning in June when 

 cantering round the course on a beast of a country-bred entire, 

 the brute refused a little drain the natives had dug across the 

 coAirse to let the water out of their fields when, as Bertie 

 shook the reins, the beast turned round and seized him by the 

 arm literally dragging him out of the saddle and having got him 

 down set to pawing him, a regular rough and tumble ensued 

 for fully ten minutes, no one being in sight to help. At last 

 a native came by with a stick, and Bertie took it and by 

 ramming it right down the pony's throat forced him to open 

 his mouth, but both wrist bones were so hopelessly crushed 

 that amputation was imperative. The head sawbones of the 

 station wanted to amputate above the elbow, but his junior, 

 Dr. Maclaren, said, " No ; it need only come off from just above 

 the injury," and Bertie pluckily suggested, when the ancient 



