24 IRiMna IRecollections an^ XLxxvt Stones 



But Ted, who had not seen him for years, and 

 did not know he was in England, replied : 



" Not it ; he's in Russia." 



However, there the brother was, as they afterwards 

 discovered. When Sharpe and his mentor arrived 

 home from wasting, poor old Tass (he was anything 

 but a young man at the time) was tired out, as he had 

 been travelling two days and nights. Desirous of 

 refreshing himself, he left his charge, Sharpe, and went 

 to have a bath. Sharpe asked Mrs. Nesbitt, the wife 

 of Squire Heathcote's butler, with whom they were 

 staying, for some brandy, declaring he felt faint. 

 She took him about half a pint in a decanter up to 

 his room. Jack thereupon made himself very com- 

 fortable, and when Tass Parker returned for him to 

 go on the course, the pugilist found out that he had 

 made a mistake in leaving the jockey and forgetting 

 to give strict orders that he was not to have anything 

 to drink. On going to the scales to weigh, I was 

 told to put on the white cap, or second colours, Mr. 

 Manning, the clerk of the scales, wanted to know 

 which horse he was to put my name to, but Mr. 

 Merry told him that he had not decided yet. As 

 there was half an hour before putting the numbers 

 up, there was no hurry. When we arrived in the 

 paddock, Mr. Merry and Matthew Dawson had 



