BiSMILLAH. 277 



a horse down if he chances it, Mr. MacDougall caught 

 her by the head and raced her at it full speed. The 

 pace carried her over, but she was not able to keep 

 her feet, so landed on her head. Her rider, who had 

 not stirred an inch out of his saddle, pulled her together, 

 .gave her a dig of the spurs, got her on her legs again, 

 and went gaily on at the next obstacle as if nothing had 

 ■occurred ! This was one of the finest performances of 

 horsemanship I have ever witnessed. 



Before leaving Mussoorie, I sold Vesper to go to 

 Central India, where she won two or three good races, 

 ridden by Captain Humfrey. Soon after my return to 

 Meerut, I took Bismillah to Lucknow to run for the 

 Arab and Country-bred Steeplechase, which he could 

 have won in a trot had not he been seriously lamed, in 

 the early part of the race, by a large thorn which pene- 

 trated one of his knees ; as the foolish people who 

 looked after the course had strengthened some of 

 the fences with bushes that bore prickles as sharp and 

 istrong as darning-needles. As the thorn, after pene- 

 trating deeply, broke short off, thus preventing its 

 ■extraction by any instrument, I applied a smart blister 

 ■over the knee, and had the satisfaction of seeing the 

 ■offending body v\ork itself out in a few days. This 



