THE GRAND NATIONAL. 267 



to a man, he would havti pulled her up there and 

 then. 



As it was he got her along somehow, the climax 

 not arriving- until the fence before Becher's 

 Brook was arrived at the second time when Zoedone, 

 jumping straight up in the air, as she did at the 

 preliminary hurdle, fell heavily the other side, where 

 she lay in an inanimate condition for upwards of a 

 quarter of an hour, at the end of which time the 

 poor thing was moved with great difficulty to her 

 stable. 



Fortunately, beyond a severe shaking. Count 

 Kinsky was not much hurt. It would indeed have 

 been hard after such a fine exhibition of courage 

 and unselfishness on his part, had it been other- 

 wise. 



The theory was that some scoundrel, specially told 

 off for the purpose, managed to inject some deadly 

 poison (hartshorn, it was thought) by means of a 

 small syringe. No doubt the work of an expert and 

 done in a second, the regret is that the culprit was 

 never discovered and brought to justice. 



As for Zoedone, she was never the same mare 

 again. Absolutely useless for racing purposes, she 

 was put to the stud and threw a couple of foals, 

 neither of which, however, were of any account. 



2 M 2 



