CHAPTER VI. 



CAPTAIN DUDLEY. 



That grand horseman, Captain Dudley Sampson, to 

 whom I have casually alluded, is worthy of more than 

 passing mention, although now, alas ! he pulls the scale 

 at eleven stone, and his silk and satin know him no 

 more. As we belong to the same club, the Junior Army 

 and Navy, in St. James' Street, we often meet and have 

 a talk over bygone scenes which we have witnessed in the 

 sunny East. It is nearly twenty-five years ago since he 

 began his racing career in India. He commenced riding, 

 with a good share of luck, at Benares, and went on to 

 Faizabad, Gonda, Gorakpur, and Lucknow. The ex- 

 perience he gained was, luckily, sufficient to convince 

 him how much he had to learn ; so, when he went home 

 on leave, he put himself under George Fordham's old 

 master, poor Drewitt of Lewes, and got a thorough 



