292 The Leather Plater, 



steeple-chase rider, a swell horse-dealer, kidman (I could tell some- 

 how or other that he was not a regular horse-dealer), or stud-groom, 

 I could not for the life of me guess. I could see at once he was 

 not a gentleman 3 and he certainly did not belong to the hard- 

 riding crew of blackcoats that followed our hounds. He was a 

 stranger J and I could never call to mind having seen him out in 

 our country. He had clearly not been out with the hounds that 

 day — the drab trowsers and Wellingtons plainly told thatj but 

 who or what he was, or what possible business such a dapper little 

 man could have in the frowsy old parlour of the Five Bells at 

 HoUiwell, was a mystery which I was most anxious to solve. He 

 had hardly a speck of dirt on his well-polished Wellingtons. I 

 ventured to remark this ; and his reply soon told me all about the 

 man and his business. " Well," he said, '' in general I do manage 

 to ride pretty clean j but the roads were good enough till I came 

 over the north road and got into this God-forgotten country." 



'' Have you ridden far ?" I asked. 



" Oh, about fifteen miles, from (mentioning our county 



town, where there were cavalry barracks). The fact is my chap was 

 out with your hounds about a fortnight ago, and he heard of a colt 

 in this very place which they told him was a well-bred 'un, and he 

 thought it might make a charger, and, perhaps, win our Cavalry 

 Cup in the autumn, so he sent me over to look at him. My 

 name's Turner, his stud-groom." 



" And who is your chap ?" I inquired. 



" Oh, Captain C, of the ," he answered: "'you must have 



seen him out with your hounds." 



I certainly had seen the captain out with our hounds ; and, 

 moreover, I owed him a bit of a grudge for a little circumstance 

 which took place a short time before — no doubt on the very day 

 that he had heard of " the bay colt out of Plover." The cap- 

 tain and I were riding at each other, and, as far as our horses went, 

 we were pretty equally matched 3 but, as for riding, I could not 

 hold a candle to the captain, who was one of the crack gentlemen 

 jocks of the day. We had got a little out of our line, and found 



