ONLY THE MARE 135 



" You know that there was a small race-meeting 

 at Bibury the other day. I rode over on Little 

 Lady, and found a lot of the 14th Dragoons there ; 

 that conceited young person Blankney amongst the 

 number. Now, although Blankley has a very con- 

 siderable personal knowledge of the habits and 

 manners of the ass, he doesn't know much about 

 the horse ; and for tliat reason he saw fit to read us a 

 lecture on breeding and training, pointing his moral 

 and adorning his tale with a reference to my mare 

 — whose pedigree, you know, is above suspicion. 

 After, however, he had kindly informed us what a 

 thoroughbred horse ought to be, he looked at Little 

 Lady and said, ' Now I shouldn't think that thing 

 was thoroughbred ! ' It ended by my matching her 

 against that great raw-boned chestnut of his : three 

 and a half miles over the steeplechase course, to be 

 run at the Holmesdale Meeting, on the 5 th December. 



" As you may guess, I didn't want to win or lose 

 a lot of money, and when he asked what the match 

 should be for, I suggested '£20 a-side.' 'Hardly 

 worth while making a fuss for £20 ! ' he said, rather 

 sneeringly. ' £120, if you like ! ' I answered, rather 

 angrily, hardly meaning what I said ; but he pounced 

 on the offer. Of course I couldn't retract, and so 

 very stupidly, I plunged deeper into the mire, and 

 made several bets with the fellows who were round 



