234 THE HUNTING FIELD 



himself to the chapter of accidents. "Most unfortunate," he 

 will say, " but these accidents will happen ; that horse never 

 had a moment's illness all the time he was in my stable — must 

 have put his foot in a rabbit hole, or wrenched himself some 

 way." If the unfortunate purchaser is a hard rider, perhaps he 

 will throw in some "desperate leap " he saw him take, to make 

 his misfortune lighter. 



The Captain, though a light weight man, is very tenacious 

 about not carrying anything e.xtra. Here the racing man 

 shows itself. Though he would not leave the " coppers " at a 

 turnpike gate until he returns, he will nevertheless wait till the 

 toll-keeper fumbles in all his pockets, and looks in the corners 

 of all his drawers for one of those hide-and-seek fourpenny 

 pieces, the most uncatchable and slip-through-the-fingers coin. 

 His clothes are all made on the principle of e.xtreme lightness, 

 and whether in cords or leathers, of which he has "two and 

 one," he never wears drawers, and sometimes he even dispenses 

 with stockings ; his boots, too, are of the paper sort, and spurs 

 of the true racing cut. 



It would puzzle Shabbyhounde himself to make out how he 

 came by the title of Captain. He was originall)' an apprentice 

 to a clothier at Frome ; but having a soul above " buttons," he 

 suddenly disappeared from the scene of action, and, after 

 vegetating some time at Boulogne, returned to England a 

 Captain, instead of, as might have been expected, a count. 

 This was, perhaps, accorded on the strength of moustachios, a 

 military-looking travelling cap, and a broad black stripe down 

 a pair of blue trowsers, strapped under Wellington boots, with 

 ringing heel-spurs. " Captain " is a convenient travelling 

 name. Shabbyhounde had some little money at starting — a 

 few thousand pounds — sufficient to make or mar a man. A 

 part of this he "dropped" in mastering the mysteries of the 

 magic game of ccarte, for there is little to be acquired in this 

 world without payment, and the balance, whatever it was, has 



