14 A Question of Bits 



fun was rather saturnine, responded ; ' and we can't if 

 you go hunting with ladies in phaetons. It's safe, I 

 know, but it's less amusing, I should think. Come ! let's 

 make a match of some kind.' 



' Go on,' Oakley said, encouragingly. ' I should like 

 to see what you could do with Lawford's mare. Eide 

 her against Crusader.' 



' I have no objection, if you think it will entertain 

 you,' Chippenham said, and terms w^ere arranged. The 

 match was to be for 25Z. a-side, as Chippenham was not 

 a betting man. He was to have the mare for a week 

 under his charge- -she was already pretty fit to go — and 

 on the following Thursday he was to ride over the point-to- 

 point course against Lawford on his horse Crusader. Not 

 without satisfaction Lawford remembered that the course 

 in question included two of the jumps which his mare 

 had very decidedly refused with him ; and where a horse 

 refuses once it is very apt to refuse again. 



The secret of the match had of course crept out — it 

 would scarcely have been a secret had it been otherwise. 

 Quite a little crowd was assembled on the afternoon 

 named at the gate from which the point-to-point chase 

 had lately been held, and opinions were divided — Lawford 

 for choice. Everybody had seen him go, and knew that 

 he went well. Crusader, like the mare, was a cast-off 

 from a training stable, had not lost the knack of gallop- 

 ing, and might wdth the utmost confidence be depended 

 on to jump safely and steadily. Nevertheless, there 

 was a feeling abroad that Chippenham could ride. The 

 mare might, not improbably, refuse ; all the same there 

 was a chance of a race, and when the pair arrived on 

 the spot the impression was strengthened. Crusader 

 seemed to understand what w^as before him, and worked 



