The Leather Plater. 327 



fully a stone the best of us, and the match was almost reduced to 

 a certainty for the captain. This was a pleasing reflection for the 

 stud-groom, as he leant against the door-post of the Chequers in 

 the evening smoking one of the captain's best cigars, at four 

 guineas a pound 5 but he was not satisfied with this, he wanted to 

 "have the boot on the other leg," and to try and make us believe 

 that ours was the best horse. For this very reason he brought his 

 mare to stand at the Chequers, and after "sounding" Frank 

 whom he found, to use a favourite expression of his own, " as 

 green as a radish top" he proposed one evening, after stable 

 hours, that they should have a spin together for a mile and a half 

 next morning in ten-pound saddles. There was scarcely a pound 

 difference between the weight of the two men. Mr. Turner, who 

 was candour itself with Frank, and who had attained a sort of 

 influence over the young man, had not much difficulty in the task. 

 As he observed, the trial could do no harm j the money was all 

 down ; the match must come off ; if the trial was ridden fairly the 

 best horse would win, and this would be the case in the match. 

 He fancied his mare must win, and she was sure to be a great 

 favourite, for " all the mess-room money would be on her." If 

 she beat our horse in the trial, it would give us a very good line to 

 go by, and might save us many pounds ; but if our horse could win 

 the trial, it would be like coining money to back him. 



Of course it was Mr. Turner's meaning that our horse should win 

 the trial, and yet he meant that both horses should do all they 

 knew, and that, as far as riding went, everything should appear to 

 be on the square 5 and, moreover, he wanted it to get wind that 

 our horse had beat the mare in a private trial. So, in the evening, 

 he confided to old John Harrison and two or three more friends that 

 the trial was to come off next morning, quite privately, the conse- 

 quence of which was that it was watched by more than a dozen 

 eager eyes, and in twenty-four hours the news spread half over the 

 county and up at the barracks that our horse had beaten the mare in 

 a trial by half-a-dozen lengths. 



Although the match was not a heavy one, it created much inte 



