OVER BANK AND TIMBER. 113 



House after we had been out with Mr Garth, 

 Campbell and I were very fond of cutting off 

 corners when we were crossing Heath Commons, 

 though the fences were so stiff that most people 

 preferred to keep to the beaten track. There were 

 also some large banks with post and rails on top, 

 but it took a good deal to stop us in those days. 

 We were once going back so late that the moon 

 was up, when we came to an unexpected obstacle 

 in the shape of a high stile with which the path 

 had been blocked, and to make matters worse a 

 hurdle had been laid across the ditch on the far 

 side for the use of foot-people. Campbell decided 

 that it was too late to think of turning back, and 

 said he would go over first. He was riding a black 

 horse named Warwick, that had a white face and 

 legs, and was a wonderful timber-jumper, though 

 when Campbell bought him he could not lift his 

 legs over timber. Warwick was afterwards taken 

 into the Blackmore Vale, where he carried his 

 master well. He took the stile in good form, but 

 did not clear the hurdle, and Campbell, slipping 

 from the saddle, pulled him out by the head. He 

 then tied his horse to a tree and called to me to 

 ride for a fall. The ditch was some seven feet in 

 depth, so the prospect of a fall was not alluring. 

 Tom, however, jumped well, but got his hind-feet 

 down, and had it not been for Campbell being 

 ready for him and pulling him out, the conse- 

 quences might not have been pleasant. Horses 

 indeed need some training to judge their distances 



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