High Proficiency. 205 



Mr. Anderson had entered a very fast country-bred 

 called Pole Star in the race for which Fairymount was 

 to run. Before it came off we gave them a " rough-up " 

 together, and Pole Star won very easil}-. Of course we 

 bought him in the lottery, and let Major Hastings, if I 

 remember right, have Fairymount. At the last moment 

 I took a small share, an eighth or a quarter of my horse, 

 merely to show his buyer that, however the money went, 

 I meant to give him every chance. Blackburn rode Pole 

 Star and got cleverly beaten by my stable lad, Oodit, on 

 Fairymount. So much for trials ! 



I had bad luck with P'rectradcr. In the first chase at 

 Lucknow the jockey who rode him appeared afraid to 

 let him cro out of a canter. In the next one, Mr. Gart- 

 side Tipping was not able to hold him at the start, and 

 let him bolt away in the wrong direction. Both races 

 were won by Dignum on Highflyer, who beat Jerry, 

 ridden by Mr, Germany, in the second event, after an 

 exciting contest. 



As I had nothing better to do during the hot weather 

 of 1875, I went down to Calcutta to read with the well- 

 known and talented viunsJii, Adalut Khan, for the 

 High Proficiency in Urdu. I was, luckily, successful, 

 and after giving my Bengalee friend Rs. 300 for his 



