59 



did the preliminary. I fancy now I see them jogging side by side to 

 the starting post, where poor Tom Waters awaited them, ready 

 with ensign in hand to send them on their journey. The only 

 delay was while he delivered a short but sporting speech to these 

 grand lads, when away they went, boot to boot. The pace was a 

 cracker from the start, but none made the running more than 

 another, for all three were girth to girth most of the journey, and 

 at no time did two lengths divide the first and last till just before 

 the finish. Yes, every post they made a winning-post ; and ding-dong 

 did they go at each other, though, of course, riding like sportsmen. 

 Fence after fence was charged and cleared by them locked together, 

 and it was not till Nightwalker was beaten, just before the last 

 fence, they separated. A determined struggle between Woodlark 

 and The Weasel then ensued ; and, after a desperate finish, old Judge 

 Hunter gave the verdict to the former "by a short head." 



Never was seen a better race of its class, nor was any ever ridden- 

 more determinedly for victory. The scene of excitement on Williams- 

 town Course during and after it beggars description. Not a mouth 

 was shut or a voice lower than its highest pitch. 



The Meeting held on the 5th May, 1881, ended the Curraghmore 

 Hunt Steeplechases. 



Among all his servants I don't suppose Lord Waterford ever had a 

 better one than " Johnny Ryan the Jock." We had to designate him 

 by that term to distinguish him from his namesake the huntsman. 

 Ryan was steeplechase jockey and second horseman to the third 

 Marquis, then he became grcom to the fourth Marquis, and was after- 

 wards for some years second horseman to the present Lord Waterford, 

 and for the last five or six years of his lordship's hunting he held the 

 onerous and responsible position of stud-groom. Whether it was 

 ov^er the Curraghmore country, in Leicester, Lincoln, or Chester 

 shires, Johnny Ryan sent his horses to the meet so fit and well, that,. 

 with his own determined hard riding, Lord Waterford was always 

 to the front, whether the run was fast, or long, or both. Yes, he was 

 the very best stud-groom his lordship ever had, and the fact of his 

 being continuously in the service of the Curraghmore family for over 

 half a century speaks volumes for his integrity. He was a very fine 

 horseman, with one of the neatest seats I ever saw, and particularly 

 good at teaching a young hunter his business. 



Curraghmore, his hounds, horses, and hunting had such attractions 

 for Lord Waterford that he spent nine or ten months out of the year 

 in his ancestral abode, while the Marchioness preferred her home and 

 its attendant pursuits and vocations to any place of pleasure she was 

 ever in. As a consequence, Curraghmore was nearly always full of 

 guests, so that upon hunting, employment of labour, and entertain- 

 ment the Marquis expended a very large sum of money annually in 

 the county during the time he was allowed to remain there. 



By a somewhat paradoxical working out of a means by which am 



