My First Steeple-chaser, 113 



very good present for his excellent riding, and 10/. to the lad for 

 having so manfully stuck to the old horse throughout. Just before 

 we left, the pretty barmaid presented me with two grand blue-and- 

 white rosettes to decorate old " Hercules' s " head, declaring that 

 these were her favourite colours — a pretty good hint, as my friend 

 the butcher observed, that she would hke a silk dress of the same. 

 And as I thought that in all probability we should never see the old 

 town again — certainly never take away so much out of it — I went 

 out and bought her the richest blue silk piece that I could find j 

 and I'll do her the justice to say, that I felt certain she would well 

 become it. 



About an hour before we left, old Hercules was led out of the 

 town in triumph. We had a parting bottle of champagne with the 

 civil butcher and Jem, without whose aid we should have left 

 Bideford "'unhonoured and unknown," and after promising Jem 

 that he should have the mount if our horse went for any other good 

 race while I had anything to do with him, we mounted the outside 

 of tlie up-coach, and left Bideford in very different spirits to those 

 in which we had entered the old town. 



There were no telegraphs down to our remote county in those 

 days 3 and as we lost no time on our journey, we had the pleasure of 

 bringing the news of the old horse's victory home ourselves. Her- 

 cules came back from his training-quarters as soon as he got home,, 

 and I took him to meet the hounds a few days after (my first mounts 

 by the way, on a horse which I had now owned about eighteen 

 months), to receive the congratulations of his friends. We ran 

 him for one more steeple-chase in our county, with the odds of ten 

 to one on him 3 but the hawbuck of a country jockey who rode him 

 managed to go on the wrong side of a flag, and lost us the race* 

 We were all of opinion that he sold us. 



My old friend became quite an altered man after poor Tom's 

 death 5 he had lost his right hand, as it were, and he cared little 

 now to bring a horse to the post under the pilotage of a jockey whom 

 he could not trust. Grief shows itself in various forms, but the old 

 man's sorrow took a very disagreeable one 3 he became ill-natured 



