THE farmer's story. ^ 



someliow or other this farmers' race never seemed to be 

 fairly won by a farmer. Lots of them tried for it at first, 

 but a thoroiig-h-bred screw of some sort or other wa<; 

 g^enerally smug'g-led into it, and the deuce a bit did the 

 tenant, with the best horse, ever get the Cup to take 

 home with him. Well, the gentlemen g-ot quite as savag'e 

 at this as we did ; and so, when they found I had g-ot a 

 g"ood mare, nearly all came to back me. The young 

 squire — the son of him who kept the hounds — came him- 

 self every other day to lead me a gallop ; .and Sir William, 

 lent me one of his own lads out of the stables ; and so 

 away we went into regular training for it. The littk 

 mare stood it well, and looked, too, better and better every 

 time she was out, so that by the end of the six weeks she 

 was as ^ fit as a fiddle,' as the jockeys say j and we 

 really began to think about keeping the Cup where it was 

 meant to be. There didn't seem much to be afraid of 

 either. There were, to be sure, three of mj own sort 

 against me, but I knew I could run over them anywhere ; 

 and considering the twig we were in, there didn't seem 

 much chance of their wearing us out any other way. 

 There was one more, though, we couldn't say so much 

 about — a great, big, ragged, one-eyed, varmint-looking, 

 old beggar, that a draper in the town had picked up, or 

 had sent him just within the three months. This draper 

 was one of 'em that used to teaze us so much ; held just 

 fifty acres of land, to qualify him, it seemed ; was a. 

 terrible chap for card-playing; and knew all sorts of 

 dodges, and all sorts of people. Well, the gentlemen of 

 course \vas dead against him, and talked of stopping him 

 from running; but he'd got it all squared too well for 

 that : so we had nothing to do but fight it out. I wasn't 

 much afraid even of him either, though he'd got a regular 



