194 Among Men and Horses. 



slave, brought back a shipload of horses, sold them, paid his 

 debts, and returned to the betting ring beaming with delight 

 to find himself again in his old paradise. He was the only 

 one of his low class of racing men whom I have ever met 

 that loved a genuine straight-away match, for its own sake 

 more than for the money dependent on it. Of the many oc- • 

 casions I have seen him ' lead in ' a winner, I have never 

 seen poor Teddy so pleased, although he did not gain a 

 farthing on the transaction, as when my wife won a jumping 

 prize against all comers in Calcutta four years ago on his 

 clever pony mare, Mamma. His joy was on account of his 

 pony having defeated the best horses which his rival dealers 

 could bring against it. Teddy, who had been a fine horse- 

 man before he became inordinately fat from too free living, 

 liked, during a sale of his horses, to get the leaping bar put 

 up to a respectable height, and having mounted one of the 

 animals with more assumed than real difficulty, would take 

 the obstacle in good style, to show the people, as he would 

 explain, how clever his horses must be to jump with a fat old 

 man like himself. And then he would describe in a manner 

 few could resist, how marvellously the animal would perform 

 over a country with any of the on-looking jeunesse doree on 

 its back. 



The most of the older shippers had come from England 

 or Ireland in their youth, and had worked their way on in 

 the Colonies. The only regular London dealer in the whole 

 lot was Kerouse, whose people kept a livery and commission 

 stable in Edgeware Road. He used to bring out cart horses 

 from England to New Zealand and Australia, and then used 

 to work back via Calcutta or Madras, with a shipment of 

 Colonial horses. He was certainly the cleverest man in that 

 trade at inducing a shy man to part with his money ; but 

 then we must recollect that he had a London training. He 

 had not a thought in the world except for horses, pure and 

 simple. ' It was as good as a play ' listening to him when 

 he was explaining to would-be purchasers how his ' five-year- 



