248 SOME CURIOUS HORSES 



riders, a day or so after I had him I ordered him 

 to be saddled, and, mounting him myself, I took 

 him into a thirty -acre field of light plough, thinking, 

 if I got a fall, it would not hurt there. I wanted 

 to find out what he could do, telling my groom 

 to watch carefully and see what his manoeuvre 

 was. 



Well, I just walked him round the field several 

 times, and he went as quietly as possible ; then I 

 trotted him, and still everything was pleasant, and 

 I began to think that the change of scene and 

 course had produced its effect. Next I put him 

 into a canter. At this pace he did not go quite so 

 well, and evidently was looking out for something ; 

 but at last he appeared to have settled fairly into 

 his canter. Then, catching hold of his head, I 

 just touched with the spur to make him gallop, 

 when, without a moment's notice, I was sent out 

 of the saddle like a stone from a catapult. When 

 I got up, the brute was trotting away in the 

 opposite direction to that in which I had been 

 riding. I very soon caught him, and going down 

 to my groom, asked him what on earth the horse 

 had done. I need hardly say the man had not 

 seen him. Of course, he said he fancied he heard 

 someone calling just then and looked round ; the 

 fact being that, seeing the horse go quietly at first, 



