226 THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



withstanding which, I hunted eighty-three times during 

 the last season, although the amount of my stud did not 

 exceed four ; and I was only enabled to do this by the 

 superior strength of my horses. Never purchase horses," 

 added he, "that are not, at least, a stone above your 

 weight." 



The Captain and our hero being domiciled in the same 

 town, it is only natural to suppose they occasionally met 

 in the evening, as well as by the cover side. " Is it true, 

 Captain Barclay," said the latter to him, as they sat one 

 evening over their claret, " that you drove the mail coach 

 from London to Aberdeen, a distance of nearly 400 miles, 

 without any relief ? " 



" Quite true," he replied ; " and I offered to drive it 

 back again for the same wager." 



" Then your journey to London to see a fight ! " resumed 

 his companion. 



" Oh ! " answered this modern Hercules, " I considered 

 that nothing beyond the fact of my being exposed to bad 

 weather for so long a time, having stolen a march from 

 my regiment, saying I was only going to take a walk, and 

 absolutely starting without a great-coat. I mounted the 

 box of the mail at Chester (my regiment was quartered 

 at Wrexham, eleven miles distant from that city) ; saw 

 the fight at Wormwood Scrubs, on the other side of 

 London, the next day but one ; returned on the box of 

 the mail to Shrewsbury, and, walking thence to Wrexham, 

 appeared in the messroom on the fifth evening. My clothes 

 were wet and dry several times during the journey, and 

 you are aware how rough the box of the mail is, from the 

 pace it travels at, in comparison with that of the stage- 

 coaches." l 



"And is it possible," continued Frank Raby, "that a 

 man of your athletic make can be a fast runner ? " 



" I never ran more than one match," replied Captain 

 Barclay, " my forte being walking ; but in a match against 

 John Ward, which I won with 2 to 1 against me, I ran 

 440 yards, or a quarter of a mile, in fifty-six seconds." 



" That you are a patron of the boxing ring," resumed 

 our young sportsman, " all the world knows ; I am an 

 admirer of it myself, but, partly to meet the wishes of my 

 father, and more particularly so those of an uncle from 



1 The boxes of all public coaches were not at this period on 

 springs, as they now are. 



