COMMONS STEEPLECHASES ii 



can remember, when the hounds were laid 

 on, we composed the whole field. I knew 

 that a new-comer was, if kindly welcomed, 

 critically watched, and I confess that I was 

 nervous ; I had no confidence in my horse, 

 who would at times refuse to face anything. 

 How I hoped it would be one of his jump- 

 ing days ! As for his galloping, it was 

 worth all the two hundred guineas that 

 my father had given for him two years 

 previously, when he was sound in wind and 

 fresh on his legs. 



Away we went ! I can see now Law- 

 ley's black and white trousers, with a 

 strap under the knee, on each side of old 

 Gingertail, popping over the fences three 

 lengths ahead of me as we covered the 

 first two miles. Soon after Lawley, Aylmer, 



