THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



been frozen as stiff as the kitchen poker, many a night diirino- 

 the frost of last winter but one, if I had not l)een allowed to roll 

 myself up in flannel.' 



Frank Raby. — ' Moses lived in a warm climate, Jack.' 

 The first step after breakfast, in a young sportsman's house, 

 is to the stables, a custom which was not departed from by the 

 party at Farndon-house ; and ^vhen, on entering it, four vacant 

 stalls were observed, Jack Webber exclaimed : 



' Hey-day, Frank 1 what is become of your skewbald team ? ' 

 meaning the one to which the chestnut piebald belonged. 



' They went last night to the " Barley Mow," twelve miles from 

 hence, to take us on to Townley Park, twelve miles further, to 

 call on that excellent fellow, as well as capital sportsman and 

 coachman, Peyton, in whose stables you will see a good stud of 

 both hunters and coach-horses, all in right keeping. He knows 

 that we are coming, so that he will give us a good luncheon, a 

 bowl of bishop to wash it down with, and we shall pick up Jem 

 Powell on the road, who will amuse us as we toddle along.' 



' Who is Jem Powell ? ' inquired Goodall. 



' I am surprised at the question,' said Jack Webber ; ' I should 

 just as soon have expected a man to ask who is George iii, 

 Jem is one of the oldest and best coachmen on the Holyhead 

 road, and a very clever fellow to boot. Indeed, he says of him- 

 self, that if he had had a college education, his place would have 

 been before the bars, and not behind them, by which he means 

 a first-class degree.' 



' No doubt he would,' observed our hero ; ' for I never heard 

 him express himself but with point, on any one occasion ; and 

 there is a dry humour in his remarks that gives them additional 

 weight.' 



As the clock struck eleven, our party commenced their drive. 

 Jack Webber on the box with his host ; Sir John behind him on 

 the roof ; and the rest where their fancy placed them ; and this 

 being the first time of Sir John seeing his pupil at work on his 

 own coach, he was not a little interested by the event. All 

 went well, however. Frank Raby gave proof that he had not 

 lost sight of the instructions he had received from Jack Bailey, 

 when at Eton, nor from himself during the vacations: and he 

 was at once pronounced, both by the Baronet and Jack Webber, 

 as only requiring one more year's experience, to make him a 

 first-rate coachman. His hand on the horses was liffit; his 



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