26 CHASING AND RACING 



the latter was Harry de Windt, the distinguished 

 traveller and author, brother to the White Ranee 

 Brooke of Sarawak. At one time de Windt owned 

 a mare called Umbrella, who would have been a 

 worthy opponent for Catona had they been contem- 

 porary, which they were not. I have mentioned my 

 first pony, Phyllis ; she was a first rate trapper, and 

 could gallop above a bit. Harry had a similar " tit " 

 about the same cut and height, so we fixed up a match 

 for a ** pony " which came off at Gloucester, where a 

 particularly serpentine course had been — I was going 

 to say, prepared — but, well, the preparation was of a 

 most primitive order. Incidentally, I may say that, 

 being anxious to give a sporting young friend a winning 

 mount, I actually put him up on Catona in the chief 

 event, with the result that the mare slipped up at one 

 of the ** impossible " turns. Luckily neither horse 

 nor rider was hurt, though the latter, like John Jones 

 of Covent Garden, *' didn't know where he were " 

 for quite half an hour. All he could say was : 

 ** Where's the luncheon basket } " 



But about this match. It was ** three times round 

 the frying pan and once up the handle " for the mile. 

 We negotiated the first event quite serenely, keeping 

 close together, but the second time round, Rosalie, 

 as de Windt's mount was named, suddenly " ran out," 

 and went bird nesting in an adjacent coppice ; so 

 all I had to do was to jog along at my own sweet 

 will and so earn easy money. 



