152 Life and Ti7iies of " The Druid." 



him to go along and not upset him ; he'll 

 take a deal more out of himself by waiting.' 

 So I gets them persuaded to change their 

 minds. Old Driver, the groom, was outside 

 listening, and he comes up to me, — ' What 

 do they shay ? What do you want to wait 

 for ? ' So I tells him that I was to go along, 

 and that pleased him powerfully, it did. Next 

 morning we weighed at Dalby, the Squire 

 and I. Bless me, I was never in such con- 

 dition, and away we trotted to Gartree Hill. 

 They were walking the horses about, and 

 Captain Ross says to me, ' Clinker looks 

 well, don't he?' 'He looks too well, Cap- 

 tain,' I answers. Then he lifts me up on 

 to Clinker's back, and tells me the orders 

 were changed, and I must wait. ' It's giving 

 away a certainty,' says I, 'and if I get a fall 

 then, I'm all behind.' But it was no manner 

 of use talking. Sir Vincent Cotton and Mr. 

 Gilmore, they started us, and Mr. Maher, he 

 was umpire. We rode twelve stone apiece ; 

 I was in tartan, and the Squire, of course, 

 he'd be in green. When we were at the 

 post the Squire says, ' Now, Christian, I 

 know what your orders are ; but I do ask 



