2o6 DRIVING. 



a strong opposition. I had a very good man to contend 

 against William Harbridge, a first-class coachman. We had 

 several years of strong opposition, the rail decreasing the 

 distance every year, till it opened to Exeter. The Nonpareil 

 was then taken off, and they started a coach called the Tally 

 Ho ! against the poor old Telegraph. Both coaches left 

 Exeter at the same time, and this caused great excitement. 

 Many bets, of bottles of wine, dinners for a dozen, and five- 

 pound notes, were laid, as to which coach would arrive first at 

 Plymouth. I had my old friend Harbridge again, as my com- 

 petitor. The hotel that I started from was a little farther 

 down the street than the one whence the Tally Ho ! appeared, 

 so that as soon as I saw my friend Harbridge mounting the 

 box, I did the same, and made the running. We had all our 

 horses ordered long before the usual time. Harbridge came 

 sailing away after me ; the faster he approached, the more I 

 put on the steam. He never caught me, and, having some 

 trifling accident with one of his horses over the last stage, he 

 enabled me to reach Plymouth thirty five minutes before he 

 came in. My guard, who resided in St. Albans Street, Devon- 

 port, hurried home, and as the other coach passed he called 

 out and asked them to stop and have some supper ; they also 

 passed my house, which was a little farther on, in Fore Street. 

 I was sitting at the window, smoking, and offered them a cigar 

 as they passed a joke they did not, of course, much relish. 

 The next night they declared they would be in first ; but it was 

 of no use, the old Telegraph was not to be beaten. Thus it 

 went on for several weeks ; somehow they were never able to 

 get in first. We did the fifty miles several times in three hours 

 and twenty-eight minutes (that is, at the average rate of a mile 

 in four minutes and nine seconds, including stoppages), and 

 for months together we never exceeded four hours. 



Still, in every contest one party must ultimately give in ; 

 that one, however, was not the Telegraph. We settled our 

 differences, and went on quietly for the remainder of the time, 

 occasionally having a little ' flutter,' as we used to call it in 



