Sir Tatton Sykes. 231 



iron intended at one time to bid for Fandango, but he 

 saw that Sir Tatton was set upon the bay, and he did 

 not open his mouth. Such was the old baronet's 

 desire to have him, that he bid 3100, and forgot, till 

 Mr. Richard Tattersall reminded him, that he had 

 made the last bid as well, at 3000. On receiving this 

 hint, he merely pulled out his watch : " Well, sir, it's 

 nearly time for the first race, you'd better knock him 

 down ;" and a very dear bargain he proved. 



He was perhaps never in higher spirits than when 

 he had " Mr. William" from Woodyeates as the com- 

 panion of his paddock strolls, as that " young man 



weight to most of them. Brutandorf filled the country with hunters, 

 many of which were esteemed quite Gaylads if they had been trained ; 

 but still he was not the horse of Dick's heart. Dick's stories had in- 

 variably a Maroon moral, and were full of deep warning about men who 

 had spoken lightly of him or his stock, and endured unspeakable anguish 

 and loss of fortune in consequence. When the praises of some of 

 Maroon's rivals were often slyly uttered in his guardian's presence say, 

 on the Driffield platform, to which his portly frame was quite an appen- 

 dage, he never would stand it, and his standing retort was, that " They 

 had brok two men, and made another hang hisself" He was in a strange 

 state of delight when Mr. Philipps gave him the horse, and he gave 

 himself seisin with a most affectionate dig in the crimson bay's ribs and 

 a second corn supper. In that moment of triumph he quite forgot all 

 the bitter associations of the Lincoln Royal, when he was tempted across 

 the Humber to be told that he might go back to his shed, and retired 

 not with "a conquering hero step," but in a walking swoon, only to see 

 the card of victory over " that thing Loutherbourg. " He seemed to be 

 ever on the move after a foal or a trotting horse, or doing something in 

 obedience to " a letter from the Captain," and we liked well to see him 

 come bustling down Beverley to keep an early appointment at the Rose 

 and Crown, looking like a jolly Triton just emerged from Spurn Head. 

 An "At Home" with Dick at Skerne was also a marvellous sight out- 

 of-doors when he had Maroon up for a lecture on the knoll ; inside 

 when he was helping with the frying-pan, and beaming over our recital 

 of Sir Tatton's prophecy, "Afr. Stockdale will give you some excellent 

 ham for breakfast to-morrow" 



When the news did come that some of the Maroon colts had been 

 sold into the Royal stables, one might have supposed that he expected 

 a summons to court, and a knighthood when he got there. August and 

 September were very happy months to him among the horse and foal 

 shows ; but he was not thought a particularly good judge of horses. 

 Foals were more his forte, and he read their horoscopes well. The 



