80 SPORTING STORIES 



Ready for anything, the chorus assented, and rushed off 

 to prepare. 



Someone suggested they should wear nightshirts over 

 their uniforms, and cotton nightcaps on their heads. The 

 proposition was hailed with acclamation, and eight riders 

 were soon ready to start, with a body of troopers in the 

 background to witness the fun. 



Away they went in nightshirts and caps, making strong 

 running, and lying well together. At the first fence one of 

 the racers turned a somersault, and horse and rider were 

 landed in a muddy ditch ; while a Major Medley, with his 

 shirt-tail flying in the wind, vainly tugged at his old 

 charger to get him over the same. The remaining six 

 got safely across, and, with some ups and downs, reached 

 Nacton Heath. But the last fence presented a most varied 

 picture of reverses. One jumped smash through the middle 

 of a five-barred gate. Hansum's grey took a strong wattle 

 fence and bank in beautiful style. Two fell, but, whooping 

 like maniacs, the remainder clattered through the quiet 

 village, startling the country-folks out of their beds, and 

 making them believe the French had landed and were 

 upon them ; the sight of the white shrouded figures in the 

 cold moonlight, shrieking as if a troop of demons were in 

 pursuit, filling them with terror. 



" The steam of their steeds, 



Like a mist of the meads, 

 Veiled the moon in a curtain of cloud, 



And the stars so bright 



Shuddered in light 

 As the unhallowed troop in their shadowy shroud, 

 Galloping, whooping, and yelling" aloud, 

 Fast and unfailing, and furious in flight, 

 Rattled on like a hailstorm, and vanished in night." 



For many a year afterwards, some of the good wives of 

 Nacton believed it was a troop of devils they had seen. 



This, according to the Sporting Magazine, was the earliest 

 steeplechase on record, and suggested ideas that developed 

 into a new era in sport. But there are strong suspicions 

 entertained that no such race ever took place, and that 

 the whole story is an invention of some ultra-imaginative 

 journalist. 



