174 SPORTS AND ANECDOTES. 



trimmed them for months, and the oil, from being 

 gummed and as thick as treacle, obstinately refused 

 to burn. 



In spite of all these contretemps, and by going 

 gingerly, we arrived at Market Harborough, where 

 we stopped at a grocer's shop and trimmed our lamps. 

 Things seemed to be going better until we got to the 

 toll-bar outside the town, when out went the devilish 

 things again. We tried to relight them at the toll-bar, 

 but light they would not, and light they did not, and 

 we had to go on the best we could without them. 

 The night had grown as dark as a nigger-boy. The 

 road was a very dark one, being made of some bluish 

 kind of stone ; the grass or turf on the side of the 

 road could not be distinguished from the colour of 

 the road, and in this pleasant mode of travelling we 

 groped our way for more than two miles to my friend's 

 house. It was so dark that I don't think I could 

 swear that I ever saw my leaders, which were blue 

 roans, and almost the colour of the road. For the 

 whole distance it was as dark as being inside a rail- 

 way tunnel, and except as to pace not half so safe, 

 for in a tunnel you cannot well get off the road ; in 

 our case it was a wonder that we were ever on it. 

 However, more by luck than judgment, we got to our 



