MY FIRST AND LAST STEEPLE-CHASE 



In the year 1859, the Irish militia regiment in 

 which I had the honour to hold a commission was 

 disembodied ; but, as a reward for our distinguished 

 services at Portsmouth, where we mounted guard 

 daily on the dockyards for more than twelve 

 months, each subaltern was presented with a 

 gratuity of six months' pay — a boon that must 

 have been highly appreciated at the time by our 

 much - enduring and long - suffering tailors, into 

 whose pockets most of the money, in the end, 

 found its way. 



Dick Maunsel, the senior lieutenant, and myself 

 were cousins, and (as the old chief never lost a 

 chance of telling us when we got into trouble) 

 " always hunted in couples." Our fathers' allow- 

 ance had been liberal. We were free from debt — 

 that " Old Man of the Sea," which too often hangs 

 like a millstone about the British subaltern's neck 

 — and, finding ourselves at liberty, as a matter of 

 course determined to go off somewhere and get rid 

 of our pay together. Much beer and tobacco were 

 consumed in the various " corobberys " held to 



139 



