312 CHASED BY A POLICEMAN. 



three year old, lent me by a friend, who had requested me 

 to ride him on the snaffle as he possessed a very tender 

 mouth a great rarity in Cape horses. I was trying to 

 explain that I would leave my name or my whip, or any- 

 thing as a pledge for the penny, when the man loudly 

 and angrily repeated his demand for the money, at the 

 same time chucking the horse's mouth with the sharp 

 curb. To this the noble animal strongly objected, and 

 turning round reared straight up. Now had this been my 

 own horse I doubt if I could have borne it quietly, but 

 as it was the property of a friend, such a proceeding was 

 unbearable. The ex-butcher was about repeating his 

 jerk, in the hopes, I have no doubt, of unseating me, 

 when I struck him a blow on the wrist with the loaded 

 end of my whip, that caused him at once to let go of 

 the bridle. I gave the young one a squeeze, who, finding 

 his head free, bounded clear of the attempt to stop him 

 made by the second party. I was so enraged at the 

 whole proceeding, and at having been placed in a false 

 position by the absence of my purse, that I went on for a 

 couple of hundred yards before I recovered my equanimity. 

 I then found that I was riding away from home, and the 

 only other road, which was a long way round, had also a 

 turnpike at which I was not known. Turning my horse 

 into the open furze ground at the side of the road, I made 

 a sweep round across country, and was quietly making my 

 way home, when I saw a policeman on a horse coming 

 after me. Knowing that any attempt to argue the merits 

 of the case would have been useless, I was even obliged to 

 fly. I gave a shake of the reins, and the thoroughbred soon 



