88 My First Steeple-chaser. 



open race than many of the crack steeple-chases, where horse and 

 rider, perhaps, never see the country before the morning of the race. 

 Our friend Tom, who had ridden in this steeple-chase twice before, 

 and knew the line to an inch, was very confident this time, for the 

 country was deep, and he considered old Dot-and-Go-One just the 

 sort of horse to pull off the race. The old horse had certainly 

 wonderfully improved, and, although he still went at times a little 

 lame, such was his strength and bottom that it seemed scarcely to 

 interfere with his going, especially in deep ground j added to that, 

 he rarely made a mistake at his fences, and had a good turn of speed 

 over the flat. Of course, as in most steeple-chases, the brook was 

 the centre of attraction, for it was pretty certain that on this day 

 more than one nag and rider would have a cold bath ; but the fence 

 which all the old hands considered the most dangerous in the race 

 was the fourth fence from home coming back, leading out of a 

 ploughed field into the meadow where the brook had to be crossed 

 for the second time. This was a new, strong, splashed blackthorn 

 hedge, -above four feet high, with growers and binders thicker than 

 a man's arm, on a bank, with a wide ditch on both sides. If a 

 horse made the least mistake here he must be thrown out of the 

 race, for it would neither bend nor break. It was well known to 

 all the hard riders in the hunt, and more than one had come down a 

 tremendous cropper at this very fence. Not one place in it was weaker 

 than another, so it must be taken in the line $ and as the horses 

 before they came back to it would be naturally distressed, it was 

 clear that more than one would come to grief at this stake-and- 

 bound rise as the country people here called it. A lane ran parallel 

 with the side fence of the meadow where the right hand flag was 

 placed ; and here all who had the most interest in the horses stationed 

 themselves, for it was pretty certain that at this point it would be 

 decided who had the race in hand. 



It is needless to dwell upon the bustle and excitement that pre- 

 vailed throughout the little village on the evening before the steeple- 

 chase. It would be tedious as a thrice-told tale. Ten horses had 

 arrived) and as two horses from the village were sure to go, and one 



