THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



the latter, offered his friend Raby the following useful advice, 

 enforcing it with the result of the performance of his own 

 stud : — 



' Purchase your hunters,' said the Captain, ' with more 

 strength than is merely required to carry your weight. / get 

 into the saddle full fourteen stone, notwithstanding which, I 

 hunted eighty-three times during tlie last season, although the 

 amount of my stud did not exceed four ; and I was only enabled 

 to do this by the superior strength of my horses. Never pur- 

 chase horses,' added he, ' that are not, at least, a stone above 

 your weight.' 



The Captain and our hero being domiciled in the same town, 

 it is only natural to suppose they occasionally met in the 

 evening, as well as by the cover side. ' Is it true. Captain 

 Barclay,' said the latter to him, as they sat one evening over 

 their claret, ' that you drove the mail coach from London to 

 Aberdeen, a distance of more than 500 miles, without any 

 relief ? ' 



' Quite true,' he replied ; ' and I offered to drive it back again 

 for the same wager.' 



'Then your journey to London to see a fight?' resumed his 

 companion. 



' Oh ! ' answered this modern Hercules, ' I considered that 

 nothing beyond tlie fact of my being exposed to bad weather 

 for so long a time, having stolen a march from my regiment, 

 saying I was only going to take a walk, and absolutely starting 

 without a great-coat. I mounted the box of the mail at 

 Chester (my regiment was quartered at Wrexham, eleven miles 

 distant from that city) ; saw the fight at Wormwood-scrubs, on 

 the other side of London, the next day but one ; returned on 

 the box of the mail to Shrewsbury, and, walking thence to 

 Wrexham, appeared in the messroom on the fifth evening. 

 My clothes were wet and dry several times during the journey, 

 and you are aware how rough the box of the mail is, from 

 the pace it travels at, in comparison with that of the stage- 

 coaches.' ^ 



' And is it possible,' continued Frank Raby, ' that a man 

 of your athletic make can be a fast runner ? ' 



^ The boxes of all pi:bli(! coaches were not at this period on springs, as they 

 subsequently were. 



230 



