My First Steeple-chaser. 97 



used to be on the Warwickshire side. As he never went for any 

 very great stake, the old horse rarely met with company to make 

 him gallop j and although the stakes he won were generally small, 

 they paid expenses and a little over, and gained my old friend a 

 kind of notoriety which he had so long aimed at. 



Yellow-leaved autumn, however, came round again at last, and 

 the old horse, who now scarcely ever went lame, but who, strange 

 to say, notwithstanding all his knocking about, seemed to keep as 

 fresh on his legs as ever, and who was always, to use a favourite 

 expression of old Sam's, " A rare doer," made his appearance for 

 the last time at Findon gorse, early in November, just to show him- 

 self to his old friends once again, previous to his going down into 

 a remote western county which my old friend, whose knowledge 

 of geography was limited to " the sheers," as he called them, fancied 

 was altogether out of England to run for the great event of his 

 life, the Grand Annual Aristocratic Bideford Steeple-chase (this was 

 not exactly the name, but it is near enough for our purpose), of 20 

 sovs. entrance, with 100 added, and in which Vanguard, Peter Simple, 

 Gaylad, and a host of other cracks, were to meet as competitors. 

 Hercules was now in a racing stable, for, as my old friend observed, 

 the horse was public property, and the responsibility of bringing him 

 out for this great race was more than he dare undertake himself, so 

 he was placed for about six weeks with one Mr. Snaffle, to put the 

 final polish on him. The weekly bulletins were favourable j and 

 when it became generally known that he was meant for the race, 

 every member of our hunt felt interested in the old horse's success, 

 and many a quiet commission was sent up to London to back him 

 by men who rarely hazarded a shilling on a race. Now, although 

 old Hercules was well known as a good horse among a limited 

 circle, his fame had hardly spread beyond that circle, and however 

 good he might be among platers, with country jockeys on their 

 backs, it was quite a different thing when he had to meet the best 

 steeple-chasers in England, with regular professional jockeys up, 

 and twelve or fifteen to one could be easily obtained about him. 

 But the stable-money was on him, Tom declared himself equal to 



