A STRAIGHT RIDER. 49 



thing in the reckless spirit of the deed which, whatever 

 it may show about Wynnerly's head, at least proves 

 that his heart is in the right place.* 



In spite of his success in the saddle, Wynnerly has 

 not more money than he knows what to do with, and if 

 he had a good deal more, he would doubtless find means 

 of application for it without mental exhaustion. The 

 source of his gratification to-day is that he has picked 

 up what Lady Hortington calls the large brown horse 

 for such an amount as is indefinitely spoken of as " an 

 old song " because the brute — probably a connection by 

 birth of Fireworks aforesaid — has x^roved incorrigible in 

 very skilful hands. 



Encouragement — in which kindness has a part, as 

 well as hands and heels — seems effective to-day, how- 

 ever, and very likely his late owners forgot the former 

 half of this compound, and lost sight of the fact that a 

 cheer}^, coaxing word or two sometimes has more in- 

 fluence than a cutting whip or polished spur. 



A horse not unfrequently has a reputation for bad 

 temper, and it very often fails to strike its owner that 

 the temper may have been made bad, and can be cured, 

 without being violently broken ; an attempt to do which 

 latter very often fails, by the way. Wynnerly can be 

 firm enough, and can hit hard enough, when occasion 

 demands that form of argument ; but he also knows the 



* It may be that some readers, who do not live in that part of the country 

 where Wiltshire and Gloucestershire unite, will protest against this anecdote 

 as overdone. In its main incident it is stiictlv true. 



