160 MY FIRST AND LAST STEEPLE-CHASE 



and sent him through it ; while my mare, cocking 

 her ears, and turning her head half round, as an 

 old pointer might do at seeing a young one break 

 fence, flew over like a bird, and settled steadily 

 to her work on the other side. 



For some distance the dragoon and myself rode 

 neck and neck, though the pace was beginning to 

 tell on his horse, who was slightly overweighted. 

 Our friend on the gray now raced alongside, and 

 galloping recklessly at an awkward ditch, which he 

 cleared, took a lead of a dozen lengths, and kept it 

 until within a short distance of the last fence, when 

 he fell back, allowing us to get to the front once 

 more. 



I think fear was the last thing uppermost in my 

 mind as I rode at it. My blood was fairly roused, 

 and passing a carriage a minute before, I got a 

 glance from a pair of blue eyes that would have 

 made a coward brave. Still, with all that, I could 

 not avoid a slight feeling of anxiety as it loomed 

 across, looking about as dangerous an obstacle as 

 the most reckless rider could desire at the end of a 

 race. If stone walls " grew," I could have sworn it 

 had done so since I crossed it on Dick's hunter the 

 evening before. The people had closed in on both 

 sides until there was scarcely twenty feet of clear 

 space in the middle, and evidently a row of some 



