HOW THE NEWS CAME 5 



of Mastership. Well might a more qualified person 

 pause and hesitate; but in one thing I was not 

 deficient, and that was keenness ; and I knew I 

 should get every support from a ready and willing 

 staff, and from an enthusiastic field of followers. 

 In old Batters — not that he was old in years, but 

 in wisdom and experience — I had a tower of strength. 

 A better stableman never existed. Punctual as the 

 sun, and as early a riser, his knowledge of the con- 

 stitution and temperament of his horses was very 

 complete. For years he had turned out a small stud 

 to do, and do well, the work of twice its number. 

 Plenty of exercise, good strapping and dressing, very 

 regular and frequent feeding and not too much corn 

 at a time, was his practice. He hated " Vets," and 

 except for surgical operations resented their being 

 called in as a reflection on his own knowledge ; and 

 when this was proposed he used to mutter : ** If 00 

 sterve the horse an' pit a clean divot in his manger 

 for him ti worry at, he'll turn better far quicker 

 wantin' the Veet." A t3rrant, but a just one, over 

 the many stable lads that had passed through his 

 hands, he had turned out some first-rate men whose 

 recommendation was, they had been '* an 'ear wi' 

 auld Batters." He never quite forgave his master 

 for inadvertently entering him in some official return 

 as " Coachman." " A micht hae been putten doon 

 what A am shairly — Stud-gruim." This description 

 he would fairly earn now, for he was not slow in 

 acquainting me with the stipulation that ^* there wad 

 need ti be nae drievin' on huntin' days, an' that 

 Johnny, his son, wad need ti be putten inta leevery, 

 for he was lairnin' him ti drieve." The fact that 



