Bertie Short. 211 



to I on him. A third time he got a chance in the chase 

 with Ring at Dchra, but his colonel would not give him 

 leave. He took it, however, and had to " send in his 

 papers." Then Fortune, with her usual irony, smiled 

 ■once more on him, and loaded him with her favours for 

 a whole year, but to break him at the big Umballa 

 Meeting of 1877, at which there was heavier and more 

 reckless gambling than vras ever known before or since 

 in India. 



At the time 'Mr. Short met with his accident at 

 •Cawnpore, he was absent without leave from the police 

 service, in which he was acting as District Superni- 

 tendent. Routine work, especially at an out-of-the-way 

 station, no more suited the somewhat volatile "Bertie" 

 than the unutterable weariness of going to parade twice 

 a week did that /yt^au sahrciir, Frank Johnson. The 

 Hussar, though a fine rider, was not within measurable 

 •distance of Bertie across country on a difficult horse. 

 Short was one of the very few men I have ever met 

 who knew no fear. The faster his horse went, the 

 harder he pulled, and the bigger the country, the more 

 did the brave Peeler like the fun. His only fault in 

 .steeplechase riding was that he was rather too fond of 

 makinar the running. On the flat he was as good as 



