86 ON THE WYE 



at the gate. The horse cleared it grandly, but 

 caught the hoof of the off hind leg in an iron 

 bar that covered one end of the top of the gate, 

 and the poor brute came down on his head, and 

 was killed on the spot. The youth was taken 

 up insensible, and is still living, a highly re- 

 spected old gentleman. 



Another and extraordinary thing happened 

 only a few months ago to an old friend of his. 

 He was breaking a splendid young cart-house 

 to work in the team. The horse was being 

 hooked on to the team at plough in a field ; 

 something startled him, and he bolted just as 

 they were hooking the traces. The farmer was 

 knocked down, and the traces somehow caught 

 round his foot, and by an extraordinary chance 

 got firmly hooked. 



The horse broke off at full gallop, dragging 

 the man by the one leg. Somehow he managed 

 to get the free leg over the other as the horse 

 dashed through a hedge, and then, by a still 

 more remarkable chance, the other trace got 

 hooked to the one round the foot, and so 

 providentially both legs were kept together ; so 

 it happened that the horse, still at full gallop, 

 took two more fences and came into the turn- 



