68 THE BRIGHTON ROAD 



person got as far as the Marylebone Road, and across 

 it on to the pavement of the other side, where he fell 

 with a crash as though a barrow had been upset. But 

 again vaulting into the saddle, he lumbered on into 

 Regent's Park, and so to the drinking-fountain near 

 the Zoological Gardens, where, in attempting to turn 

 round, he fell over again. Mounting once more, he 

 returned. Looking round, " there was the park- 

 keeper coming hastily towards me, making indignant 

 signs. I passed quickly out of the Park gate into the 

 roadway." Thus early began the long warfare between 

 Cycling and Authority. 



Thence, sometimes falling into the road, with 

 Spencer trotting after him, he reached the foot of 

 Primrose Hill, and then, at Spencer's home, staggered 

 on to a sofa, and lay there, exhausted, soaked in rain 

 and perspiration, and covered with mud. It had been 

 in no sense a light matter to exercise with that ninety- 

 three pounds' weight of mingled timber and iron- 

 mongery. 



On the Monday he trundled about, up to the 

 " Angel." Islington, where curious crowds assembled, 

 asking the uses of the machine and if the falling off 

 and grovelling in the mud was a part of the pastime. 

 The following day, very sore, but still undaunted, he 

 re-visited the " Angel," went through the City, and so 

 to Brixton and Clapham, where, at the house of a 

 friend, he looked over maps, and first conceived the 

 " stupendous " idea of riding to Brighton. 



The following morning he endeavoured to put that 

 plan into execution, and toiled up Brixton Hill, and so 

 through Croydon, up the " never-ending ' rise, as it 

 seemed, of Smitham Bottom to the crest of Merstham 

 Hill. There, tired, he half plunged into the saddle, 

 and so thundered and clattered down hill into 

 Merstham. At Redhill, seventeen and a half miles, 

 utterly exhausted, he relinquished the attempt, and 

 retired to the railway station, where he lay for some 

 time on one of the seats until he revived. Then, to 

 the intense admiration and amusement of the station- 



