140 SPORTING STORIES 



ment was given to the Turkish Ambassador, Elfi Bey, at 

 which the Prince Regent was present. The conversation 

 turned upon horse-taming, and His Excellency was relating 

 stories of his countrymen's gifts in that direction. " I have 

 now in my stables," said the Prince, " an Egyptian horse 

 so ungovernable that I will stake any amount that not one 

 of your followers can mount him." " I will take your 

 Royal Highness's challenge," replied the Bey, " and it shall 

 be decided to-morrow." An appointment was made for 

 two o'clock on the following day at the Prince's Riding 

 House, Pall Mall, and at that hour His Excellency, ac- 

 companied by his interpreter and Mahomet Aga, his 

 principal officer, a young man of great agility, arrived at 

 the appointed place, where the Prince and the Duke of 

 York, with several noblemen in attendance, were already 

 awaiting his arrival. 



The greatest curiosity was manifested as to the result, 

 as no one had ever been able to keep his seat for a minute 

 on the savage brute. One of the Mameluke's saddles being 

 fixed by the grooms, the animal was led into the riding- 

 house in so rampant and unmanageable a state that it 

 seemed madness for any one to attempt to mount him. The 

 creature was a model of beauty ; he was spotted like a 

 leopard, and his magnificent eyes seemed to glow like 

 living coals. Yet, as coolly as though he had been the 

 most docile of animals, the young Mahomet Aga, as he 

 was led round, seized the reins, and, quick as lightning, 

 vaulted on to his back. The horse, maddened by the 

 pressure of the Egyptian saddle, reared and plunged 

 in the most furious manner, but all to no purpose ; the 

 Mameluke, to the astonishment of all present, kept his 

 seat as firmly as though he was glued to the saddle, until 

 at length, exhausted by his efforts and finding he had 

 met his master, the horse tamely yielded to the control 

 of his rider. 



