READY TO START. 25 



"Has he eaten his corn?" inquired onr head groom, making 

 a sudden appearance at the door of my box. 



" Yessir," sharply responded my youthful attendant, "and is 

 licking the crib for more." 



"Ha!" ejaculated Mr. Top, "he's a rare feeder; but clap 

 an the bridle, Harry ; for we must be movin'." 



In a few seconds this order was obeyed, and as I turned to 

 quit for ever the earliest home of my colthood, I glanced at 

 the old black spider in his dusty web, and wondered if he 

 looked at me with the same strange feeling of regret that we 

 never should meet again. 



The morning mist hung upon tree and flower as I stepped 

 from the door of my box into the well-kept gravel yard, forming 

 a square by the cajDacious range of adjacent stabling. There 

 were two besides myself, prepared for the same journey ; and I 

 admit that I was not a little proud to find them left to the 

 solitude of the lads who stood at their heads, wliile- an eager 

 group formed about me as, with head erect, I crossed the 

 threshold, and neither man nor boy, in the service of Sir Digby, 

 but crowded round to take a parting view of the anticipated 

 flyer of his year. 



" If he can stand the goin* through the sieve," said one in a 

 suppressed tone — for Mr. Eobert Top was a strict disciplinarian, 

 and submitted to nothing like a liberty in an underling — " if 

 he can stand the goin' through the sieve," repeated he, with a 

 hand screening the motion of his lips, " he'll stagger the layers 

 agin' him, Tummas." 



"He's the raspin'est colt I ever put ^ -eyes on," replied 

 "Tummas," vfho supported the character of a venerable 

 strapper, the qualifications for which were unexceptionably 

 spoken of by our head groom with a sneer of profound con- 

 tempt ; " and if it comes to sellin' the buttons ofi" my precious 

 Sunday shirt, I'll stick it on, James, as thick as treacle." 



" Those hind legs," remarked another of the establishment, 

 " are hung as if they wanted to get before." 



" And if it comes too near to be agreeable," observed a 



