CHAPTER XVI. 



A SPORTING TRIP TO FRANCE CONTINUED. 



(HE steeple-chase was like most others, 

 with the usual amount of mishaps 

 and falls. However, we got off pretty 

 well, and managed, as my friend fore- 

 told, to " pull it off," running first and second. 

 As to the other fellows riding us out, they never 

 had a chance, for we came away, and beat them 

 as we liked in both heats. I must here explain 

 that a steeple- chase ground in some of the pro- 

 vinces in France cannot be well imagined by an 

 Englishman. Almost every impossible obstacle 

 is picked out. A Frenchman's general idea of a 

 steeple-chase is to choose an impassable ground ; 

 the more accidents the better. Talk of your 

 Croydon sensational leap, why that is a farce 



