4 HEROES AND HEROL\ES OF 



through the ordeal at all. As it was, one of them, 

 Rust, ridden by Mr. W. McDonough, on jumping 

 into the lane was hemmed in by the mob, and kept 

 there so long as to have any chance of winning 

 he might have had effectually knocked on the 

 head. 



In the four miles and a bit that had to be 

 travelled there were twenty-nine jumps, all of them, 

 with two or three exceptions, easy of accomplish- 

 ment. The exceptions were these : — 



Brook No. i, now known as " Becher's Brook," 

 which, had it been left as nature made it, would 

 have been simply a ditch five or six feet in width, 

 with a slight droj) and very little water, but as 

 improved by " art " became a truly formidable 

 obstacle, a strong timber fence, three feet high, 

 having been placed about a yard from the bank in 

 the taking off side, so that a horse to get fairly over 

 would have to jump at least twenty-three or twenty- 

 four feet, the difficulty being aggravated by the 

 ground from which it was approached being 

 ploughed land in a very heavy condition. 



Brook No. 2 was what the reporter of the period 

 termed " a very decent jump," made by converting 

 a foot ditch into an eight-foot brook and placing 

 timber in front. 



