324 SPORTING STORIES 



of the enemy. " Retrait ! " said the Captain. " Retrait 

 mean'th rinning away, I zim ; then it shall never be told up 

 to Dodbrook Market that Captain Prid'gen and his brave 

 troop rinned away." 



Accordingly, as the enemy came on, he shouted to his 

 troop, " Charge, my brave boys, charge ; us baint voxes, 

 and they baint hounds ; us'll face em like men." 



The collision was awful — men, horses, and accoutrements 

 strewing the ground on every side ; several troopers being 

 more or less injured, while one positively refused to mount 

 again, saying, " I've brok'd my breeches already, Cap'n, and 

 I won't mount no more." 



These rules were revised in 1887 to meet the require- 

 ments of the new game, the greater increase in the size of 

 the ground and the height of the ponies, and the subordina- 

 tion of individual play to combination. The ground was 

 increased from 200 yards by 120 yards to 300 yards by 200 

 yards; the height of the ponies from 12-2 to 13-3. Each 

 game to consist of six periods of eight minutes each, ex- 

 clusive of stoppages. Time not to be called while the ball 

 is in play, unless the game shall have lasted forty-eight 

 minutes, when time shall be called irrespective of the ball 

 being in play. Polo has developed from the slow, pottering, 

 dribbling game of thirty years ago into one of the most 

 fascinating and exciting of sports both to the players and 

 to the spectators. Of the introduction of polo into England 

 and the prowess of individual players I shall discourse in 

 my next chapter. 



