328 The Leather Plater, 



rest in our county. There was always a great deal of jealousy in our 

 hunt between the military and the civilian^ and every member of 

 the hunt felt that the honour of the county was at stake, and the 

 match was looked forward to with no little interest. Of course the 

 captain's mare was the favourite among the ladies and the swells, 

 while our horse represented the farmers and hard-riding division of 

 the neighbourhood. So old John Harrison was taken into confi- 

 dence, and he apparently fell into the trap at once, observing that it 

 was a capital thing for them all, such a chance did not often turn 

 up, and that if they did not make the most of it, they had no one 

 to blame but themselves. 



But though the stud-groom had not much difficulty in hood- 

 winking Frank, it was quite another thing with the old Yorkshire 

 coachman, who instinctively felt, as he afterwards expressed it, that 

 " some deep dodge was up, though he could not, for the life of him, 

 get to the bottom of it." He had watched both horses closely at 

 exercise, on the old wall-eyed cob, and, although they had never beejt 

 put together, he had seen enough to convince him that at even 

 weights the match was a certainty all one way. The captain's mare 

 was a great, slashing thorough-bred — rising six, and had beaten many 

 good fields before this day. She looked nearly as big again as our 

 young horse, who was always a little light-timbered, although very fast. 

 Old John felt confident that this trial was proposed merely for the 

 purpose of throwing the dust in oar eyes in some way or other, and 

 he moreover felt that he was not in Mr. Turner's full confidence, 

 and his Yorkshire pride was hurt at this. He felt quite sure that 

 Turner knew the mare was the best ; in fact, that worthy had told' 

 him as much, and he was certain that the stud-groom was playing- 

 some deep game to suit his own purposes. If only you can once 

 set a Yorkshireman's curiosity or suspicions on the qui v'lve about 

 anything in horses, he will work out the trail as surely as any London 

 detective. Old John determined himself to supply the missing- 

 links in the chain of evidence. He therefore watched the trial 

 closely when it came ctf next morning 3 he saw that it was fairly 

 run out from end to end; that both men and horses did their best. 



