86 " MY KINGDOM FOR A HORSE ! " 



help to put that dog into the trap. I dare say he and old 

 Ponto won 't quarrel ! ' . . . John deposited Don in the 

 dog-cart, whence at once arose irritable and ominous 

 expostulations on the part of Ponto, and deep minatory 

 grumblings from my dog. . . . However a few rough 

 objurgations addressed by John to the pair served to 

 quiet them. 



" I took my seat alongside Mead and with John behind 

 we started on our way. It was quite dark, and for my 

 part I was not inclined for conversation, but my com- 

 panion rattled on about the moor and his previous ex- 

 periences of it, the birds and the dogs and the men that 

 had been shot there. ' For/ said he, ' it gets like the 

 battle of Waterloo after an hour or two, when people 

 have drawn up from all sides.' 



" The idea seemed hardly pleasant to me, but I was 

 laboriously engaged walking up Blue Bank, which necessi- 

 tated our getting down at a very early period of the drive, 

 and plodding away on foot for most of a mile before we 

 reached the top. . . . Arrived on level ground we once 

 more took our seats. . . . There was silence for a few 

 moments. We were driving through a regular Scotch 

 mist which filled the eyes with cold water. The lamps 

 glared dimly through it. 



" At that moment one dog took umbrage at the other 

 I fancy a jolt of the vehicle shook them together, so that 

 they mutually regarded themselves as having been 

 insulted, and, without more, they fell to and fought in 

 deadly wise under the seat and among our legs. The 

 snarling, barking, swearing, struggling, snapping and 

 gnashing was so frightful that there is small wonder that 

 our horse bolted in very panic, and away we went fast 

 and furious in the mist and darkness, while the combat 

 raged in perilous proximity to our shrinking calves. 



" We had infallibly been bitten, but that another fate 

 was in store for us. The horse got off the road, it being 

 impossible to see our way at the rate we were going, and 

 in a very few moments a bump, as he crossed some ' grip ' 



