DRUM MAJOR 165 



I had to go to the gate, having lost much ground. Still his speed 

 was so great that I did not much care. 



The very next fence, two men, one on each side of me, came 

 down, and their horses continued the run on their own accounts. 

 The next fence, a man close by me came down and his horse broke 

 its back. The next fence, which was a widish ditch with a sort 

 of gap on the other side, I was going at, when suddenly, just as 

 Drum Major rose, one of the loose horses rushed at the same place 

 and knocked him right over into the ditch on his side. I jumped 

 from his back, as he was falling, on to the hedge bank and from 

 thence back into the field again . I got him out without any diffi- 

 culty and was on and over within half-a-minute. We then came 

 to a pasture field and he really set to work and passed twenty-five 

 others before we got to the end of it, at length fairly regaining 

 his place in the front. 



We ran for fully an hour and our horses were quite done. We 

 had to fetch them back by train from Bicester. Angram went 

 about first all the way. 



The above reads like a mixture of Pomponius Ego and 

 Baron Munchausen ; nevertheless I remember that it is 

 true in all its main details ; but it is evident that I still 

 retained a pathetic belief in Drum Major's great speed. 

 This belief was rudely shattered some weeks later, when 

 Angram was now getting into shape, for Smith rode him 

 one afternoon in a weird saddle the property of " Master 

 Charles ' ' which had a stone of lead in it, and we galloped 

 him and Drum Major a mile and a half on Port Meadow. 

 Angram won in a canter and gave me something to think 

 about. 



If memory serves me, King that is, Sir H. S. King 

 was out with us that particular day with the Bicester, and 

 he rode one of the few good hack-hunters, a whistling mare 

 whom someone named Fistulatrix. Moreover, I have a 

 vivid recollection of him going very well on her. He will 

 remember her, I am sure. 



My pride in Drum Major had had such a downfall that 

 before the end of the term I had decided to raffle him 

 for 40 in L tickets, and the advertisement of this raffle 

 was shown in the window of the saddler, Orpwood 

 (successor to Slark). Such a proceeding would be out 



