130 The Trotter. 



so suddenly, that if I had been a believer in the supernatural I 

 might almost have thought they had sprung out of the very earth ; 

 but there was something perfectly natural in the jovial laugh of one 

 of the men just as they passed me, and something completely 

 human in the whiff of cigar smoke which the night air wafted to 

 me after they had driven on. I think I should have taken no 

 notice of them, but the mare began to get very fidgety, so I gave 

 her her head and rattled after them. I dare say they had full a hun- 

 dred yards' start, but I was soon close behind them ; and as the 

 mare was now on her mettle, I shot alongside of the gig almost 

 before they had heard me come up. I was on the off-side j the 

 man who was driving saw me at once, and the defiant manner in 

 which he threw away his cigar, rose a little higher in his seat, and 

 pulled his horse together, with a " Hi ! Morgan, go along, old boy !" 

 proved that he was fully prepared to accept the challenge I had 

 so presumptuously thrown out. The horse made a magnificent 

 spurt, and the gig drew clear of me in an instant, but it only needed 

 a very slight pressure of my knee, and one " Hold up, Patty !" to 

 bring her alongside of him again. This time I reached the horse's 

 head, and here I kept for about a mile ; once, indeed, I shot ahead, 

 and I daresay I had got a clear length, but he soon overhauled me, 

 and for a mile and a half we were head-and-head. I don't know 

 whether the horse was doing his best I fancied he was j and I 

 fancied, moreover, that I could have gone by him when I liked. 

 But I did not think much of this; for in the first place I was not 

 sure that he was doing his best, and moreover, he was drawing a gig, 

 which, as far as I could see, contained two heavy men. Now there was 

 a toll-bar about a mile ahead, and, above all things, I did not want to 

 keep their company so far, for at this gate I knew we must stop, and 

 anxious as I was to find out all about my unknown opponent, I did 

 not yet want the secret of my mare to be " blown." Luckily, how- 

 ever, a lane led up to a farm lodge out of the high road on my side, 

 and when we came to this I pulled up, and politely bidding them 

 good-night, I turned up it. 



I waited quietly under the hedge till the sound of their wheels 



