THE DUKE OF PORTLAND 



who accompanied him from Australia, and who will go down 

 to his grave in the firm belief that the world never possessed 

 more than one horse, and that that horse''s name was Carbine, 

 Well, the record of the Australian wonder certainly gives 

 him some ground for the faith that is in him, and thirty- 

 three wins, six seconds, three thirds, and only once unplaced 

 in his forty-three races is a marvellous score. He won at 

 all distances from five furlongs to three miles, and of course 

 his crowning victory was in the Melbourne Cup, two miles, 

 when, as a five-year-old, he carried 10 st. 5 lb., and beat a 

 very large field with something in hand. After he had been 

 led round a few times, Cunningham took him out and 

 brought him back with a saddle on, and rode him about the 

 little paddock. Laziness has been a marked characteristic 

 of many great horses, but Carbine fairly " takes the cake "" 

 in that respect. It seems to be almost too much trouble 

 for him to put one leg in front of the other, and he required 

 fairly rousing before he could be induced to trot and canter. 

 " Nice useful sort of horse to send to the station on an 

 errand,"" said his owner, and this is really no exaggeration of 

 his extreme placidity ; indeed, had I to ride him on that 

 errand, I should feel considerable doubt as to arriving at 

 my destination in anything like reasonable time if I had 

 omitted to arm myseljp with a whip. I felt sorely tempted 

 to ask to be allowed to have a leg up for just one round of 

 the paddock, so that I might be able to say that I had had 

 a mount on Carbine ; but then the sensation of having 

 thirteen thousand pounds' worth of horse-flesh between one''s 

 knees would have been so entirely novel, that it might have 

 made one nervous, and if any accident had happened ! As 

 is pretty generally known, Carbine was in the charge of 

 Ernest Day, a nephew of William Day, during the voyage 

 from Australia ; and it was fortunate indeed that he had 

 been placed in such skilled and experienced hands, for there 

 is no doubt that Day''s veterinary knowledge and prompt 

 action saved the horse's life at Colombo. While performing 

 a necessary operation on Carbine, Day happened to look 

 round at Cunningham, who was holding the horse's head, 

 and noticed that blood was running freely down his arm. 

 "Hullo, what's the matter?" asked Day. "Oh, nothing," 

 replied the crack's faithful worshipper, " only old Jack's 

 had a bit out of me." What with Day's talent, Cunning- 

 ham's devotion, and his own beautiful temper, it is no 



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