244 THE HUNTING FIELD 



would-be rider — kept his seat — the horse would give in after a 

 fight, a piece of politeness that tells more with a master than a 

 stranger, seeing that the stranger, if he gets kicked off, in all 

 probabilit}- will never be master. It was just one of those 

 nasty sort of tricks that would prevent nine men out of ten 

 from trying a horse. 



Still, beau Shackell, Elmore, Bartley, Anderson, Bill Bean, 

 a whole jury of horse-dealers, could not have detected anything 

 wrong about Lambkin. His action was good, he could trot 

 with a loose head on pavement, and in the field his 

 performances were first-rate : first-rate at least with Shabby- 

 hounde on his back, and a horse wanter behind. His temper 

 too was perfect, and he had a playful way of rattling and 

 champing the bit when he had nothing to do, as much as to 

 say, " Why can't you trust me without this nasty thing in my 

 mouth ? " Whether it was this playfulness, or to disarm 

 suspicion of his infirmity, we know not, but Shabbyhounde 

 christened him Lambkin. Now the name Lambkin certainly 

 does convey the idea of a ver}' gentle, playful, docile creature, 

 its disarms suspicion, nay, even inspires confidence, and would 

 make one go up to an animal in a stall, that we might have 

 declined had he been called "Beelzebub," "Old Nick," "The 

 Tiger," or any such name. But Lambkin ! who would be 

 afraid of Lambkin ! so great is the charm — the magic of a 

 name. And j'et his kicking was not from vice — it was a mere 

 trick — a trick that he had acquired with a sore back, and 

 which had grown into habit by repeated successes. Before he 

 came into the hands from which Shabbyhounde got him, he 

 had spanghewd two prebendaries, a fat apothecary, a linen- 

 draper, three ostlers, a master butcher, an official assignee, a 

 railway surveyor, and two druggists. The uninitiated in 

 " kicks off" may say that it makes very little odds whether a 

 horse kicks you off from vice or from fun ; but there we beg to 

 differ from them, it makes a good deal of difference, especially 



