WARWICK IN A FOG 



else about it. Hadn't I been in a livery stable and 

 didn't I know as much as the next fellow ? Well my 

 brother Cash turned up just as I was going to put the 

 horse in the buggy. The first thing he did was to 

 start laughing. My horse could hardly stand, let 

 alone walk ! He was eaten up with rheumatism ! Of 

 course the dealer had warmed him up the day before. 

 He had never let him stand still a minute, but jogged 

 him one way and the other when I got in and out, or 

 whenever we ought to have stopped. 



I think I got forty dollars for the harness and buggy, 

 but where the horse went to I forget. He was never 

 any good. I never saw him again. His age was not 

 a day less than seventeen. 



Lord William used to say that I never seemed to 

 do so well when he wasn't with me. He was right. 

 Another time was when I was induced, much against 

 my will, to go to Warwick. At first I had refused 

 but some of those around me who would bet on any- 

 thing I rode argued about it : " Tod, we hear that 

 one or two of those mounts you are offered can go a 

 bit ; you may as well ride." Still I stuck out. At 

 last, [however, I did agree. It was foggy when I 

 arrived near the place. I had been to Stratford -on- 

 Avon that morning, wanting, as all good Americans 

 do, to see Shakespeare's birthplace. I remember 

 we drove over from Stratford to Warwick. Getting 

 near the race track the mist got thicker and thicker ; 

 I had never seen the course before and it was a case of 

 groping one's way to the starting-post. I thought to 

 myself that I'd stick behind some other fellow in the 

 race and depend on his knowing the way. The starter 

 told us all to get as near to him as possible so he could 

 see us. We hunched in together and at last he got us 

 off. I stuck to the jockey guide, a small boy, that I 



^7 



