62 Indian Racing Reminiscences. 



and offered that we should go share and share ahke. I 

 accepted the terms, and the next day he sent me Objec- 

 tion, a country-bred mare called Grace Darling, and the 

 pony Quaker. The first named had a terribly bad splint 

 on his near fore-leg and was very lame, so it was with 

 grave misgivings that I accepted the mount on him for 

 the two hurdle races. I kept my secret so well that no 

 one knew of the arrival of the horses until the entries 

 were read out at noon the day before the first day's 

 racing. When the local owners heard the name of 

 Objection, late Tartar, they went as one man to the 

 racecourse, summoned coolies, and made the hurdles, 

 by means of thick logs and deeply fixed posts, as 

 unbreakable as turnpike gates, for they knew what a 

 determined runaway the big grey was, and how much 

 he liked "chancing" his obstacles. For this little 

 attention I had to thank my quondam partner, Mr. 

 Knox, as he had a mount in the hurdle races on 

 Gamecock, a black Cape horse, which I had sold to 

 Captain Cockburn of my regiment, and accordingly 

 lent his aid to the heartless plot of breaking my neck. 

 When the first hurdle-race came off, I found myself 

 alongside Mr. Knox on Gamecock, " Tiger " Burns (the 

 doctor of the 85th) on Crazy Jane, and two or three 



