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HAEK FOEKAED

PRINTED BY

SPOTTISWOODK AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE

LONDON

HAEK FOEEARD !

BY

FEEDERICK COTTON

AUTHOR OF ' MEYNELL HUNT ' ' FORTY MINUTES ' ' DERBYSHIRE HUNT '

OUR GOLDEN BANNER' 'GONE AWAY' ' 'WARE WIRE'

ETC,

SECOND THOUSAND

LONDON

SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & CO. Ld.

1891

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PREFACE

Ladies and Gentlemen, —

(I think this is the proper way
to begin every communication of this sort),
please let me tell you that this book would, in
the ordinary course of events, have seen the
light two years ago. A terrible smash-up,
however, of which I was the victim, is the
cause of the delay. If your verdict is as
favourable as it was in the case of ' Gone Away '
(which, by the way, will shortly be published
at Is.) I shall be more than delighted.

THE AUTHOR.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGK

T. ' MIKABILE EST, IN QUTBFS PAKVIS CARDINIBTJS

MAXIMA EES VEETUNT' .... 1

II. BOARD SHIP 11

III. 'VIDl' 20

IV. THE LAND OF THE SETTING STJN . . 34
V. A HUNT MEETING, AND WHAT CAME OF IT . 54

VI. FIEST BLOOD 102

VII. CROSS-COUNTRY QUESTIONS . . . .109

VIII. G.N.H. AND ANOTHER 127

IX. COMING EVENTS CAST THEIR SHADOWS

BEFORE 149

X. EPSOM AND BACK — ESPECIALLY BACK . . 172

XI. 'MORE matrimony' 192

XII. THE LEGER 195

HAEK FOEEAED!

CHAPTER I

Mirabile est, in quibus parvis cardinibus maximae
res vertunt.

Pall Mall : June 5.

My dear Reggie, — You have often heard me
talk of my brother-in-law, ' Ray Danby,' in
Virginia. He has for the last ten years been
most anxious that I should look him up out
there. I have at last made up my mind to do
so, and as I am already heartily sick of London,
I have decided to sail on Wednesday by the
' Scythia ' from Liverpool. Now, I want you to
come with me. You have such a good kennel
huntsman in Furlby that you may safely leave

2 HARK FORRARD!

your hounds in his charge for the eight or ten
weeks that we shall be away. As you never
begin cubbing before the first week in Sep-
tember, there is no earthly reason why you
should not come. Besides, you have often said
that you thought it would be possible to pick
up good hunters in Virginia and Kentucky. If
you will come I will go halves with you in any
horses you may buy up to ' say twenty.' It
will just suit you to school them all September
and October, as you are never happy unless
you are trying to break your neck. You have
nothing to do but say you are game to come.
Wire to me here to-morrow as soon as you
have thought it over, and I will secure the
berths. I know Captain Hay of the ' Scythia,'
and he will interest himself in our behalf.
AVe are sure of a good cabin and seats at his
table. The latter, let me assure you as an
old campaigner, being no slight advantage for
even so short a passage as ours will be. I begin
to think that I am getting old. I did not half
enjoy the Derby dinner this season although I

HARK FORRARD! 3

had you alongside of me, and though I must
confess you were in the best of form. Do you
remember five years ago, how after dinner we
went to Evans's, and what a row there was ?
Your hat got knocked off in the melee and you
quietly knocked another man's off, caught it
and put it on ; and how after a lot of hustling
we got outside all right, but found that your
dress coat was converted into an Eton jacket.
As we cannot put the clock back, however,
' Dum vivimus vivamus.' While we are alive,
let us be very much alive, to construe it freely.
So come without fail.

Yours ever,

Alfred Acton.

By the way, you want but little kit. Simply
take your thinnest clothes, all your flannels,
and some breeches, gaiters, and boots.

Such was the letter received on Friday,
June 6, by Reginald Miller from the postman
who overtook him as he was strolling back to
kennels at eight o'clock this glorious June

B 2

4 HARK FORRARD!

morning, surrounded by forty couple of fox-
hounds whose bathing parade in the river he
had just been superintending.

' Upon my word I have half a mind to go,'
said Reginald. ' I don't like leaving these
darlings, though, for so long as a couple of
months. I should rather like to have a shy at
some of these American horses too. Wigston
declares that they are capital hunters in their
own country, and the soundest beasts he ever
saw ; wonderful good-legged ones, he says, and
roaring is conspicuous by its absence. They
have to thank the climate though for that, I
expect.'

To make a long story short, after thinking
the pros and cons carefully over, Reginald
Miller at last decided to go, and sent off a wire
to Acton as follows : ' Yes ; bring walking-
stick, standard, and two boxes — Henry Clay's.'
He then picked out a couple of saddles and
bridles, and overhauled his wardrobe, and, by
luncheon time, as far as he was concerned, was
ready to start at any moment.

HARK FORRARD! 5

Reginald Miller was master of the Menclale
Hounds, and lived at Radbrook, which, as all
hunting men know, is in the very heart of
the fairest and best hunting country in the
Midlands. When we say fairest, we mean
honestest. There is in the whole Mendale
country no fence that a really good man on a
really good bold horse cannot negotiate. Of
course it is not gated anything like as well as
High Leicestershire, but it is not necessary.
We don't care how brilliant the horse or man,
or both, in High Leicestershire they must
perforce sometimes gallop for a gate, as there
are fences absolutely unjumpable. We have
hunted many seasons in the Mendale country,
but can honestly aver that on no single occa-
sion have we ever seen an unnegotiable fence.
Still, the country is amply big enough for the
greediest of gluttons, and when the Mendale
Hounds run, as they so often do, both fast and
straight, it is only the good men and true that
are there at the finish. It is a good scenting
country too, it is well foxed, its farmers are

6 HARK FORRARD !

' Nullis secundi,' and last, but not least, its
subscription is good.

Under these circumstances our readers will
quite agree with us that Reginald Miller's lines
were cast in decidedly pleasant places. A
scion of one of the oldest and best families in
the county, it was on the retirement of the late
master decided to offer the mastership of the
Mendale to him, as, though quite a young man,
in fact he was but five-and-twenty, he had
always taken the keenest interest in the pack,
and no better man ever crossed country. He
had now been master of the Mendale for two
seasons, was a bachelor, and, as he was well off,
good looking, and very popular, it may easily be
imagined that the ladies, God bless them, gave
more than a passing thought to his future.
He danced and played tennis, and was as full
of fun as man could be, but if ever rallied
about any particular maiden, he invariably said,
' My dear fellow, I love them all ; ' and so he
did up to a certain point, but no one could for
one instant accuse him of having singled out

HARK FORRARD! 7

any particular fair one. Here then he was, on
the eve of his departure for America, in the
happy position of a man who had himself only
to please.

Having made all arrangements with his
kennel huntsman, for he hunted his own
hounds, Reginald Miller put himself into the
nine o'clock train from Bredford to Liverpool,
and at eleven thirty stepped out on to the plat-
form at the Central Station, where he was met
and welcomed by his friend Alfred Acton.

' Here you- are,' said the last named ; ' tell
James to bring your luggage to the Adelphi.
Holmes and he can take both yours and mine
down to the tender at once. We have got a
capital cabin. I have seen the captain and
purser this morning. There are a lot of pas-
sengers, and if you don't agree with me, that
one of them is the most beautiful woman you
have ever seen, I shall be very much surprised,
and if you have not lost that hitherto un-
touched heart of yours before we reach New
York, I shall be still more so.'

8 HARK FORRARD!

' Bother the women ! Let us have some
lunch.'

' All right, my lad, I have ordered it,
and as this is our last chance of a whitebait
fuddle, I have ordered a dish of that, a grilled
chop, and a magnum of Perrier Jouet seventy-
four.'

' Capital ! ' said Miller. ^ I have only had a
cup of tea and some toast this morning. I was
out with the hounds from half-past five till
half- past seven, and had only just time to tub
and dress, and catch the nine train. I wonder
what the poor beggars will do without me !
By Jove ! I shall miss them frightfully.'

' Now for goodness' sake, my dear Reginald,
shut up. If you are not a good deal more cut
up at parting from the fair unknown that I tell
you of at the end of the passage, I shall be
very much astonished. She is splendid ! '

' Upon my word you have quite raised my
curiosity,' said Reginald. ' Is she tall or short,
dark or fair ? '

' Tall, but not too tall ; fair, with such

HARK FORRARD! 9

eyes and such hair, and such a charming
manner and smile. She was at the shipping
office when I was there this morning. I opened
the door for her as she went out, and I shall
never forget the pleasant smile she gave me.'

' Judging from the way in which you
rhapsodise over the fair creature, I should
imagine that anybody who does enter the lists
will have a very formidable rival in yourself,'
said Reginald.

'Nay, lad, I am old enough to be her
father, and a bit to spare too. However, here
comes old Dudgeon with the whitebait.'

Those of our readers — and legion must be
their name — who have ever spent a night at
the Adelphi, one of the best hotels in the
world, will remember dear old Dudgeon well.
There are some waiters who, the instant you
clap eyes on them, inspire you with confidence.
This gift of inspiration was inherent in
Dudgeon to a marvellous extent, and every-
body who had ever visited the Adelphi came
away convinced that there was but one waiter

lo HARK FORRARDI

in the world, and that Dudgeon was his name.
It mattered not whether one table or twenty
were occupied, Dudgeon seemed instinctively
to know exactly when to appear on the scene
and what orders to give to his various satellites,
the result invariably being that ere the ' diner '
had begun to think that it was time the next
course made its appearance the wished-for
morsel was en evidence. More power to the
old man's elbow ; long may he live !

HARK FORRARD! \\

CHAPTER II

BOARD SHIP

Three o'clock saw Reggie Miller and his friend
Alfred Acton safely on board the ' Scythia/
and some few minutes after, the big ship was
under way for Queenstown, where the Cunard
boats invariably call to pick up the mails.
Alfred Acton had been a great friend of
Reggie's father, and as he used to &tay at
Radbrook in bygone days, when Reginald wa&
a lad home from Eton for the holidays, and
was a fine horseman and capital shot, he took
great delight in fostering Reggie's talents in
that line, which showed themselves most
unmistakably at a very early age. It was,,
therefore, but natural that a deep and lasting
friendship between the two should be the result^

12 HARK FORRARD!

althougli Alfred Acton was twenty years his
senior. Having superintended the arrange-
ment of their luggage and seen that the
portmanteaux labelled ' Not wanted on the
voyage ' were safely consigned to the baggage
room, they proceeded to make a tour of in-
spection, during the progress of which Acton
constituted himself cicerone.

' By Jove ! ' said Reggie, ' what clinking
bath rooms ! And here is the barber's shop close
handy. I think I shall be lazy and get shaved
every morning. Besides, I expect I should cut
myself if there was any sea on.'

' We are going at the right time of year,'
said Acton, ' and it is quite possible we may
cross the Atlantic without wanting the fiddles
on at all.'

' What the deuce are the fiddles ? '

^ Why, wooden frames that are put on the
table to prevent your soup from taking a
"header" into the lap of your vis-a-vis \ they
are uncommonly necessary too, I can tell you,
when she is knocking about.'

HARK FORRARD! 13

' When who's knocking about ? '

' Why, the ship, of course ; what else would
it be ? '

' Now, my dear Alfred, please remember
that I don't know one end of a ship from the
other, and that the only nautical phrase I know
is '^ Shiver my timbers ! " so it is no use your
using maritime phraseology to me. I quite
thought you meant my vis-a-vis would be
knocking about. By the way, that reminds
me of the peerless goddess of whom you have
been talking so much ; I wonder where she is,
and whether she will be at our table.'

' You may take your oath of that,' said
Acton. ' Captain Hay always takes care to
get all the beauty and talent at his table, and
though the purser nominally settles where
people are to sit, the captain pulls the strings.
Com.e and look at the engines.'

' By Gad ! ' said- Reggie, ' how beautifully
smoothly they work.'

' Yes,' answered Acton, as watch in hand
he counted the revolutions ; ' they are doing

14 HARK FORRARD!

sixty-two. You will wake up in Queenstown
harbour to-morrow morning.'

The smoking-room and drawing-room
having been visited m turn, the two friends
strolled up and down the promenade deck till
it was time to go down to dinner. Acton had
been on the lookout for the ' Fair Unknown,' but
had failed to catch even a glimpse of her. The
breeze had been freshening for the last hour or
two, and but comparatively few ladies graced
the dinner tables. Reggie was introduced to
Captain Hay, and was requested by one of the
stewards to seat himself next but one to the
captain. As he did so he could not help
speculating as to who would be the occupant
of the vacant chair at the end, and on the
captain's right hand ; Acton was on the
captain's left. His curiosity, however, was
destined not to be satisfied, at all events on the
present occasion. The most cursory glance
round sufficed to assure him that the ' Fair
Unknown ' was decidedly not there, and he
came to the conclusion that if she were any-

HARK FORRARDI 15

thing like what Acton had described her she
would have it all her own way as regarded
personal appearance. The dinner, as usual on
the Cunard boats, was excellent, and as Reggie
and Acton smoked their after-dinner cigar on
deck, they were both agreed that it would be
impossible to visit the land of the setting
sun under more favourable auspices than the
present.

Reggie woke up very early on the follow-
ing morning, as soon, in fact, as the steamer
stopped. It took him some minutes to decide
where he was, but the lapping of the water
against the side of the ship soon reminded him
that he was afloat. He turned out and found
that Acton had already gone on deck, so he
followed him in his ' pyjamas,' which, we may
inform our readers, are considered quite ortho-
dox on board ship before eight o'clock.

Queenstown harbour looked very beautiful
on this lovely summer morning, bathed in the
bright sunlight and dotted with small craft
returning from their fishing grounds. After

i6 HARK FORRARD!

watching the operation of washing decks for
some time, they went below and had first in-
nings at the baths, a visit to the barber's, and
then eight bells was sounded.

'■ I hope there is plenty to eat for breakfast,'
said Eeggie ; ' I am simply ravenous.'

' Ditto, old chap,' said Acton ; ' if the sea air
won't give a man an appetite, nothing will.'

Despite the fact that the chair on his left
was still vacant, Reggie managed to make an
excellent breakfast.

' You will have two or three hours ashore,'
said the captain, ' if you care to go. We sha'u't
sail before one, at the earliest.'

' We may as well have a look at Queens-
town, eh ? ' said Acton.

' Yes, I shall be glad to stretch my legs,'
said Reggie.

Several other passengers availed themselves
of the opportunity to go ashore, but Reggie
looked in vain for Acton's beautiful maiden.

' I don't believe this young lady has come
at all,' said he.

HARK FORRARD! 17

* My dear fellow, you have not seen half of
the ladies yet ; they will turn up in a day or
two.'

There was not much to be seen at Queens-
town. The natives evidently thought that pas-
sengers were sent into the world to be fleeced,
and at every step they were pestered, either to
buy lace or give alms, until at last Reginald and
Acton decided to return to the ship, which they
did, and arrived there in time for lunch.

' Miss Lancelot has not yet honoured us,'
said the captain. ' T must inquire whether she
suffered from sea-sickness last night.'

' Is that the lady who will occupy this chair ? '
said Reggie.

' Yes ! ' answered the captain, ' and if you
don't lose your heart to her as soon as you set
eyes on her, I shall say that you are a most
unimpressionable young man.'

' Exactly what I told him, captain ! ' said
Acton. <- Do you know her, Captain Hay ? '

' Certainly I do, right well. Her father,
Colonel Lancelot, served through both the

c

i8 HARK FORRARD !

Crimean War and tlie Mutiny, sold out, emi-
grated to Virginia, bought a very nice property,
and settled there. He married the belle of
Washington, whose father owned a fine pro-
perty adjoining him, and as she was an only
daughter, she inherited it all. He is dead, but
her mother is still living at Osage Lodge, in
Fauquier county. This young lady came to
England on a visit about three months ago, and
was then put under my special charge. She is
now returning, and has, I expect, left many an
aching heart behind her in the old country, as
it is always called in America.'

Soon after luncheon the mails came on
board, accompanied by two or three passengers,
who had preferred to come with them, and so
had a few more hours in London.

' We are off again,' said Acton ; ^ the next
time those engines stop, bar accident, we shall
be alongside the wharf at New York.'

' I wish to goodness I had a horse that could
stay as long as the engines can then,' said
Reggie. ' I tell you what, I don't at all fancy

HARK FORRARD! 19

seven or eight days more of this. What on
earth shall we do with ourselves ? '

' That is always the way with people the
first day or so. You will find the time literally
fly after to-morrow, and though you may not
believe it now, you will be quite sorry to leave
the ship when the passage is over.'

' I can believe a good deal, my dear Alfred,
but that is a little bit too far fetched.'

' Ah, well, nous verrons^ said Acton.

After dinner that night they got up a
rubber of whist, and Reginald was fain to con-
fess that he had somehow or other got through
the day very fairly well.

C2

20 HARK FORRARD!

CHAPTER III

' VIDI '

The next day was simply perfection — not a
ripple on the water. In fact, it was literally
as calm as the proverbial millpond. Reggie
Miller was lazily reclining in his deck chair
abaft the funnel, when a steward appeared on
the scene carrying a chair and cushions. This
he proceeded to arrange in a cosy little nook,
having done which he went below.

'• I wonder who that is for ? ' said Reggie to
himself. He was not kept long in suspense, as
in a few minutes the steward reappeared with
a lady leaning on his arm. She walked as
though it were a great effort, and sank down
among the cushions as if she could not have
gone another step. The steward having

HARK FORRARD! 21

arranged the cushions comfortably, left her, and
as she lay with her eyes closed, Reggie was
enabled to take stock. He was compelled to
acknowledge, that though she was deadly pale,
still she was quite the most beautiful woman
he had ever seen in his life.

'This must be Miss Lancelot,' said he to
himself. ' It can't be anybody else, that's
certain.'

He felt an intense longing to speak to her,
and was on the qid vive for an opportunity to
break the ice. He had not to wait very long,
as, after a few minutes, a book which lay on
her lap fell on to the deck. He at once sprang
up and handed it to its owner, at the same time
expressing a hope that she felt better.

' Thanks ; yes,' said she ; ' I shall be all
right I hope by to-morrow. I am always very
ill the first day, but soon pick up afterwards.'

Her voice, however, was so weak that
Reginald felt it would be cruel to bother her by
talking any more at present. Soon after this
the bell rang for luncheon, and as he passed

22 HARK FORRARD!

her chair, Reginald ventured to ask her if he
could get her anything.

* Thanks,' said she, ' I have not the least
appetite. I feel as if it would be too much
trouble to eat.'

'Well, Alfred,' said he, as he encountered
his friend at the entrance to the saloon; 'I
have made the acquaintance of the lady, and
though she is looking awfully ill, I must ac-
knowledge that you did not exaggerate one
atom about her looks. I wish she would have
something to eat, though ; she looks completely
exhausted.'

' Take her a pint of champagne and a dry
biscuit, my lad ; there is nothing in the world
like it. It licks all the physic in the world in
a case like this.'

' By Jove ! I will,' said he. ' Steward,
bring me a pint bottle of the dryest champagne
you have on board.'

*Now/ said he, as he advanced to Miss
Lancelot's chair, ' I have ventured to constitute
myself your physician for once. I have had a

HARK FORRARD! 23

great deal of experience.' (Let us hope he will
be forgiven.) ' You must be so kind as to try-
to drink a little of this champagne and eat this
dry biscuit.'

' You are really very kind, and I will try
and drink some, but I don't feel as if I could.'

' Ah,' said Reginald, as, after she had sipped
about half a glass, he saw the faintest tinge
of colour on her cheek, ' it is doing you good
already ; do try and finish the glass.'

' I declare I do feel better for it,' said she,
as she munched a bit of biscuit.

' Now a little more champagne. Nay, I
insist,' and so by degrees the contents of the
greater part of the bottle disappeared, leaving
the fair patient a very different creature at the
end of the process.

' Now,' said Reginald, ' I venture to think
that my medicine has been an unqualified suc-
cess. I shall bring you up another rug, as it is
none too warm here, and you will have a good
sleep. I will arrange an umbrella iio as to
keep the sun off" your face.'

24 HARK FORRARD!

' I don't know how to thank you enough/
said Miss Lancelot; 'you have made a new
woman of me. I could hardly crawl on deck,
and I feel almost as if I could dance now.'

' I sha'n't allow anything of that sort at
present,' answered the self-constituted phy-
sician, as he tucked her rug round her. ' I
trust that when you are fit to dance I shall
have -the privilege of being your partner on the
occasion.'

' Well,' said Acton, as a few minutes after
he and Eeginald met, ' how is the Fair Un-
known ? '

' No longer unknown by any means,' an-
swered Reginald. ' The champagne has worked
wonders, and by the time she has had a good
sleep she will be just about all right.'

' Come and play nap,' said Acton ; ' there
are two other people who want to play. It will
while away an hour or two of the afternoon.'

' No, thank you,' said Reginald ; ' I mean to
walk up and down a bit, and get an appetite.'

Walk up and down he did, too, for the next

HARK FORRARD! 25

two hours, and that always on the side where
lay the fair patient. In fact, he constituted him-
self a sort of Cerberus, and dismissed a party of
children (who were playing near and making
a good deal of noise) with such gruffness that
the youngest, a little lass of four years, ran to
its mother and said, ' Mummy, the gentleman
with the kind face is so angry, I think he must
feel sea-sick.'

Now, Reginald Miller was very fond of
children, and they simply doted on him ; he
was at home with them in five minutes, and
the very shyest child never could resist his
manner for long. He was, however, on this
o.'casion so absorbed in the welfare of his
patient that for once he spoke sharply.

Under the circumstances I suppose he
must be forgiven. However, a shoal of por-
poises making their appearance on the star-
board bow, he held the little lassie up, and told
her all about them, and so quickly made his
peace. As he returned the child to her mother,
he saw that his patient was awake, and, hurry-

26 HARK FORRARD!

ing to her side, he expressed a hope that she
was better.

' So much so, that I should like to take
three or four turns on the deck,' said she.

' Will you accept my arm ? ' said Eeginald.

' I was just going to ask you to take com-
passion on me if you would,' said she.

It is needless to say that Reginald was
delighted to act as escort, though his pleasure
was but short-lived, as she very soon felt tired,
and asked him to take her below. Having done
this, and delivered her into the charge of the
stewardess, her own maid being more tho-
roughly liors de combat than she was, he
went to the smoking-room, where he found
Acton and two others playing nap.

' Will you come in ? ' said Acton.

' Thanks ; just for half an hour.'

'Well, I'll be shot ! ' said one of the party,
as Reginald went nap and only made two of
them. ' What on earth did you go on ? '

' Champagne,' said Reginald. ' I mean — oh !

HARK FORRARD! 27

I wasn't thinking, at least I forgot that it was
nap we were playing.'

Suffice it to say that, at the expiration of
half an hour, Master Reginald rose from the
table, we won't say either a sadder or a wiser,
but we must acknowledge that he was a poorer
man by some few sovereigns.

As he entered the saloon at dinner time,
Reginald was delighted to see that Miss
Lancelot's hitherto unoccupied chair was no
longer so.

' Now, Miss Lancelot,' said Captain Hay,
' allow me to introduce you to your two
compagno7is de voyage, Mr. Miller and Mr.
Acton.'

' Quite unnecessary in one instance, I can
assure you,' said she ; ' though are you quite
sure it ought not to be " Dr. Miller ? " '

^ And I too,' said Acton, ' have had the
honour of seeing jou before. Miss Lancelot.'

' To be sure, it was you who opened
the door for me at the office on Wednesday

2« HARK FORRARD!

morning, wasn't it? I remember wondering
whether you would be a fellow-passenger.'

Now, there was not the slightest reason for
it, but poor Acton felt himself getting hot all
over, and blushing crimson, and the fact that
Reginald's eyes were fixed on him, and as far
as eyes could were roaring with laughter, did
not by any means conduce to his comfort.

What a wonderful thing travel is. It ought
to be the most important part of an English-
man's education. Naturally we Britons are all
inclined to look at every stranger as if we
thought they wanted to rob us. We ourselves
have travelled from London to Glasgow in the
same carriage with a man, and not one syllable
has been interchanged between us daring the
whole journey. If either of us had hazarded a
remark, the ice would have been broken, and it
is long odds that ere we reached our journey's
end we should have found that we had scores
of mutual friends, had ridden over the same
fences, and shot over the same ground, but we
did not break the ice. 'Et(^o^ we might as well

HARK FORRARD! 29

(as far as getting the least atom of pleasure out
of each other's society was concerned) have
travelled in different compartments. That,
however, was before the author had been round
the world.

The old order changeth, and for one person
who ten years ago girdled the zone, there are
now a hundred, who without any more prepara-
tion than our grandfathers made on the eve of
a journey from London to Paris, place them-
selves and their ' impedimenta ' in the Ply-
mouth express at Paddington, and thence
transfer themselves to one of the magnificent
steamers of either the P. & 0., Orient, Shaw
Saville, or New Zealand Shipping Companies.
It is even betting too that during the whole of
that voyage of thirteen thousand miles, they
will experience far less discomfort than did our
aforementioned ancestors during their short
transit of the English Channel. In the pre-
sent instance, however, Captain Hay, as all
who have the privilege of his acquaintance are
aware, being the life and soul of any and every

30 HARK FORRARD!

party, and his manner being infectious, ' the
quartette ' at his end of the table felt as if they
were old friends by the time that dinner was
over.

We do not intend to victimise our readers
with a sort of diary of each day spent on the
* Scythia,' but the exigencies of our story compel
us to keep them on board a little longer.

Lina Lancelot, Reginald, and Acton became
inseparable companions, and for the first three
or four days all went merry as a marriage
bell. By small degrees, however, Reginald
began to think that Acton was always getting
in the way, and Acton found himself repeating
the proverb 'that two is company and three
none.' Now Acton, though a man of five-and-
forty, had in all his life had but one affaire^
and that had turned out so disastrously that
for many years afterwards he was almost a
misogynist. Here, however, was a wine whose
bouquet was so sweet that it fairly turned his
head and made him long once more to sip from
the cup.

HARK FORRARD! 31

Lina Lancelot, of course, saw how fond of
her both men were becoming, and though she
enjoyed the society of both immensely, she
began to behave in a markedly different manner
to each. She did not mind how much she
was left alone with Acton, but if she and
Reginald happened to be by themselves, she
was always inventing excuses to go below or
into the drawing-room, or to romp with the
children.

The truth of the matter was, she began to
dread whether this were not only a mere board-
ship flirtation on his part, whose trammels he
would, as so many men do, throw off at the
expiration of the voyage with as little ado as
lie cast aside his deck shoes.

In truth, as day succeeded day, and she felt
her own heart slipping away from her control,
her manner to Reginald became almost cold.
No girl who is worth a row of pins, even if she
does give her heart away, will ever let the man
who has stolen it have the least idea of his
conquest until he first has spoken, and many

32 HARK FORRARD!

a man has gone away lacking tlie courage to
cast the die, when, had he only dared to do so,
his answer would have been all that he could
wish.

As to Reginald Miller and Acton they
neither of them spoke a word to each other
on the subject, in fact they held but little con-
verse. Reginald would patrol the decks till
late at night smoking cigar after cigar, and
thinking of Lina, and as Acton was invariably
fast asleep when he turned in, and got up very
early, they did not come much in contact with
each other.

The last day or two of the passage were
almost unbearable to Reginald, and he could
not but acknowledge that he hourly lost
ground, and for some reason or other Lina
Lancelot positively shunned his society. As
to Acton he was in the seventh heaven ; he
was very sorry for Reginald, as he saw that he
too loved this girl, but he felt that he had at
least as much right to enter the lists as had
Reginald, and though he inwardly wondered

HARK FORRARD! 33

many a time and oft how she could prefer an
old fossil like himself to a fine young fellow
like Reginald, still he accepted the good the
gods provided and basked in the sunshine of
her charms, the only drop of bitterness in the
cup being that the inevitable hour of parting
must come, and that it was indeed approaching
with terrible rapidity.

34 HARK FORRARD!

CHAPTER IV

THE LAND OF THE SETTING SUN

At length arrived the eighth day, when the
various passengers on board the ' Scythia ' bid
adieu to the good ship which had safely borne
them over the pathless waste, and also to their
various fellow-passengers whose acquaintance
they had made during the voyage. It is,
Ho those who think,' quite a sad page in
life's book, this separation. Even one short
week spent on board ship will enable one to
know one's fellow men and women better than
years spent within visiting distance in the
country, and when the voyage lasts for six
weeks, as is the case when the journey is to
Australia, the truest and most lasting friend-
ships are made, ay, and in many instances life-
long partnerships agreed upon.

HARK FORRARD! 35

There is no place in the world where a
person's true character comes to the surface
so surely as on board ship. A grip of the
hand at parting ; ' Hope we shall meet again !
You have got that address ! Be sure you write.
Good-bye, old fellow,' and there perhaps, in fact
most probably, passes once and for all out of
your life the man whose cabin you have shared,
who has perhaps been par excellence your pal
daring the whole six weeks ; and yet so fickle
is the human heart, so prone to seek fresh fields
and pastures new, that ere a fortnight has
elapsed, the pal whom you missed so sorely the
first day, to whom you promised so faithfully
to write, has been thought of less and less
frequently, until at last he has almost passed
from your thoughts.

Still perhaps it is as well that it is so. If
we were always constant to the past, we should
be but poor companions in the present. ' Carpe
diem,' and ' Sufficient to the day is the evil
thereof,' are two good mottoes. If in conjunc-
tion with these one can sa}-, ' Whatever is is

D 2

36 HARK FORRARD!

best,' and feel it too, mind you ! why then a
man has become as near a philosopher as he
can expect to get.

Miss Lancelot was met at the landing-stage
by her mother, and one glance at the mother
sufficed to tell that it would indeed have been
strange had the daughter been otherwise than
beautiful. A magnificent woman was Mrs.
Lancelot, and though of course not quite as
young as she had been, it seemed impossible to
believe that she was the mother of the beautiful
girl at her side.

Lina insisted on introducing both Eeginald
and Acton to her mother, and dwelt particu-
larly on the former's kindness to her at first,
when she suffered so from mcil de mer. Regi-
nald had, however, come to the conclusion that
absence was the only remedy for his complaint,
and declining Mrs. Lancelot's kind invitation
to dine at her New York house that evening,
he got his things through the Customs, put
them on a hack, and drove straight to the
Brevoort House, which, though not so large as

HARK FORRARD! 37

the Windsor or Fifth A^venue, was a thoroughly
comfortable hotel, and one in fact which has
ever been very popular with English people.
He dined at Delmonico's solus. He had a ter-
rible fit of the blues on, and could not shake
them off anyhow.

For the first time in his life he disliked
Acton; he could not help feeling frightfully
jealous of him, and when that individual
turned up, felt but little inclination to hold
any conversation with his successful rival, as
he imagined him to be. One glance at Acton's
face, however, sufficed to tell him that some-
thing very serious had happened. Poor Acton !
he was indeed not to be envied, and when he
told Reginald how, emboldened by the evident
pleasure Lina had taken in his society, he
ventured after dinner on the verandah to tell
his love, and how she kindly but firmly,
though evidently deeply distressed thereat,
had said him nay, then indeed did Regi-
nald feel angry with himself for having for
one instant allowed his jealousy to over-

38 HARK FORRARD!

power his affection fcr his true and trusty
friend.

' I am so sorry, old man. I was a brute to
you. I was jealous ; I could not help it. If
it is any consolation to you, I have suffered
awfully these last few days. But let us both
try to forget all that has passed since we left
England. Oh dear ! I wish I was back with
the hounds. I wish we had never started.'

' Don't say that,' said Acton. ' Much as I
suffer, I shall always look back on that week
as worth all the others that I have spent put
together.'

' What's that the poet says ? ' said Reginald,
' " 'Twere better to have loved and lost, than
never to have loved at all." I can't agree with
him at all events, whatever you may think.
Do you really think her refusal is final, old
chap ? '

' Alas ! I know it is. She spoke too firmly,
too decidedly, too regretfully to make me feel
that there was a thousand-to-one chance, even
in the remote future. Besides, I did venture to

HARK FORRARD! 39

ask her very humbly if her heart was her own.
She coloured up like lightning, and in an in-
stant was pale as death, and said, " You may
ask, Mr. Acton, and I will tell you ; my heart
is not my own." I thanked her, made an
excuse to her mother that you were all alone,
and somehow or other found myself in the
street. So that is all over, but as I said before
I would rather it had ended like this than that
I had never seen her. Oh, that week of bliss ! '

' Well,' said Reginald, ' we must be off as
soon as possible to Virginia. I vote we go to-
morrow. New York is beastly hot, and it can't
be worse in the country, probably be a lot better ;
besides, I want to get amongst the horses.'

' I am quite ready to start to-morrow. I
expect the faithful Holmes will have unpacked
all our things though ; I am very glad you sent
James back from Liverpool, as the accommoda-
tion in the country-houses here is nothing
marvellous from what Ray Danby tells me in
his letters.'

The evening train of the following day bore

40 HARK FORRARD!

our two friends off to Philadelpliia en route to
Washington, which they reached early next
morning after a good night's rest in the cars.
Finding that the train for Catletts did not start
for an hour, they breakfasted at the refresh-
ment rooms. Three hours brought them to
their destination, where they were met and
welcomed by Ray Danby.

' Here you are at last,' said he, as, having
loaded up the baggage on an American waggon,
they themselves got up into Ray Danby's high
tandem cart, which was a long way the smartest
turn out for many miles round. ' Now, how long
can you stop ? Mary won't let you off under
six weeks at least. I don't think she will
believe it is you really come till she sees you.'

' Well,' said Acton, ' I tell you what Miller
wants to do ; he wants to buy some galloping
thirteen or fourteen stone horses if they are to
be got. In fact, I have agreed to go halves
in any that he buys up to twenty.'

' H'm,' said Danby ; ' I know every horse
worth a row of pins within a hundred miles of

HARK FORRARD! 41

here, and I know some good ones, sound, well-
bred, and up to a nice bit of weight, but I
think it will take us all our time to find ten
fit to take home.'

' I don't mind how uneducated they are,'
said Reginald, ' if they are only true-made
ones. I don't care to buy them less than five
years old, as however brilliantly a four-year-
old may carry you, he is always either spring-
ing a curb or putting up a splint or some-
thing.'

' I quite agree with you there,' said Danby.
' Now look here ; your best plan will be. to
make my house your headquarters. I will make
out a list of the places where I know the best
horses are, and I will write to some of the
people w^ho are a long way off and tell them to
bring the horses over here. I know six or
eight that you are certain to buy. There is
one clinker called Independent ; he is such a
good 'un that they bar him at all the race
meetings within fifty miles of here, and Mad-
dox told me at Culpeper last court day that the

42 HARK FORRARD!

horse was a white elephant to him now, and
that he would sell him for one hundred and
fifty dollars ; that's thirty pounds, you know. He
is very cheap at a hundred pounds in England ;
he tells me he is a beautiful natural jumper.'

' I say,' said Reginald, ' that sounds all
right. I am quite anxious to see him.'

' Well,' said Danby, ' if you don't like him,
when you do see him, I shall be very much
surprised indeed.'

' Now look here, you two horse-copers,' broke
in Acton, ' I know exactly how it will be. We
shall have horse for breakfast, horse for lunch,
and horse for dinner, all day and every day,
now that you have got together, and it will
serve you both jolly well right if you have it at
night too, only it will be " mare " then.'

' I say,' said Reginald, ' have you got any
foxes here? '

' Yes, indeed, two kinds. The grey fox is a
miserable brute though, you can't make him
face the open ; in fact he rings infinitely worse
than a bad hare. Now and then we get on to

HARK FORRARD! 43

a red fox, and then I have known hounds to
run a tremendous point ; they always run clean
away from their field though.'

' Whacking big fences these timber things
are, and uncommon solid too,' said Reginald.

' Yes, we call them snake fences. Some of
these horses jump them uncommonly well
though, and I will guarantee to find you at
least six that will jump any ordinary English
gate. There is a man lives up that avenue to
the left — his name is Howson— and he has got
one real nice horse about 15.3, six years old,
and up to thirteen stone. I have ridden him
many a time. I think one hundred and fifty
dollars would certainly buy him. You will get
some horses for one hundred dollars, and I know
one four-year-old that you must take home,
though he is only four. I also know a beautiful
pair of black horses, 15.1, about four and five
years old ; they go like clockwork, and are fast
enough to win trotting races.'

' That's a game that we don't play at in
England,' said Reginald, ' and it is a taste that

44 HARK FORRARD!

it would certainly take me a long time to
acquire. However, a really well-matched pair
of harness horses, with action, are always worth
a lot of money at home.'

By this time they had reached the gate
leading into Ray Danby's drive, and here they
were met by Mrs. Danby and her two children,
respectively seven and five years old. Acton
jumped down and greeted his sister, who was
overjoyed to see him, and telling Ray Danby
and Reginald to drive on, he strolled home with
her and the children.

Now Alfred Acton and his sister had, until
she married some ten years before, been almost
inseparable, and very fond of her brother was
she. She saw at once that there was something
wrong with him, and telling the children to run
on ahead, she said : ' Alfred, dear, you are look-
ing worried and harassed. What is the matter
with you ? You are too old a traveller to be
upset by the passage.'

' I am worried, Mary, dear, and some day
perhaps I will tell you all about it, but I am

HARK FORRARD! 45

not going to bother you with my troubles, and
indeed the sight of you has already done wonders
for me. Ray and Reginald Miller will become
the firmest of friends, as their mutual love of
horse will be a bond of union between them ;
so you and I will have lots of each other's
society, and you will soon set me up again.'

' Yes, and I will drive you all over the
country in my own little buggy that I bought
with the money you sent me on my last birth-
day. See, there is the house.'

As she spoke they rounded a bend in the
road, and there on the opposite slope lay the
house, a square two-storied wooden edifice, with
a big verandah running round three sides of it.
The garden sloped down to the ' run,' as they
call a brook in America, and all round the house
were turkeys, ducks, and fowls in great numbers.
Some seventy yards in the rear were the stables,
buildings, &c.

' But first come and see my bonnie Mary-
land,' said Mrs. Danby. ' Ray gave her to me
last year ; she can fly in harness.'

46 HARK FORRARD!

They were met at the stable-door by a jovial
grinning gentleman of colour, who rejoiced in
the name of Augustus Ebenezer Gabriel Wash-
ington Smith (uncommon fond are the niggers
of swell names). He saluted Acton in a sort of
half-military fashion, grinning the while to such
an extent that Acton had time to count all the
* ivories ' thereby displayed, and also wonder
how much farther he could stretch the corners
of his mouth without cracking them.

The ' fair Maryland ' having been duly in-
spected and admired, they were summoned to
the house by Ray Danby, who played ' Buy a
Broom ' on the coach horn, and played it so well
that he need not have feared to compete with
the best of the guards on the numerous coaches
that daily ply from Northumberland Avenue to
all sorts of places within fifty miles of London.

' Now then, Alfred, I will show you your
room,' said he, as they approached. ' You and
Miller are in the " Garden House," as we call it.'

Those of our readers who have ever been in
Virginia will know that nearly all the country-

HARK FORRARD! 47

houses have two or three of these bachelor
quarters dotted about in the grounds near the
house, and a very nice arrangement it is. The
present garden house was within ten yards of
the ' run,' and as Ray Danby had made a bath-
ing place just below it, they had nothing to do
but tumble out of bed, and take a header into
the stream.

' I suppose you both feel inclined to take it
a bit easy, don't you ? ' said Ray Danby, as,
luncheon over, they settled themselves in the
verandah, or as the Virginians themselves call
it, the ' poach,' which is their way of pronoun-
cing '• porch.'

* As far as I am concerned,' said Reginald,
. ' I don't mean to stir until the sun goes down.
It will surely be cooler then, and if yon have
any horses within an hour's ride, we might go
and have a look at them.'

' You would have to look at them by candle-
light if you did that,' said Ray Danby. ' We
have not got the dear old English twilight here;
it is dark half an hour after sunset.'

48 HARK FORRARD!

' What a fearful place to live in,' said
Eeginald.

' It is a good enough place as places go, and
if we were only under the English flag, it
would be very hard to beat.'

' Yes, but remember that go where you will
on the face of the globe, there is only one country
to live in, and that is England,' said Acton.
' Other countries are all very well to sojourn in
and to visit, but nowhere can you have the home-
comforts in perfection.'

' I tell you what we will do, if you like,'
said Mrs. Danby, who had just joined them on
the verandah. ' We will drive over to the
Howsons for supper, and then Mr. Miller
can see the horse that you think so much of,
Ray.'

' A capital plan,' said Ray. ' By the way,
you will find that all the people here dine in
the middle of the day, but though they call it
supper at night you can make a good square
meal of it.'

The Howsons were the Danbys' nearest

HARK FORRARD! 49

neighbours, and fortunately their greatest
friends. A drive of twenty minutes behind the
flying Maryland brought them to the house,
just as the sun sank behind the blue mountains.

' By the way, Harry,' said Ray, after he haid
introduced the two visitors, ' should you care to
sell Vermont ? '

^ Depends on the price,' said Howson. ' I
will sell him, as I have a lot of younger horses
coming on. In fact I was counting up the stock
yesterday, and I find that I have no less tian
thirty-seven horses of sorts on the place, and
I'll be hanged if they are half as profitable as
cattle ! '

' Let's have him out,' said Ray Danby ;
' there is just light enough to put him over
those two flights of rails.'

' Certainly ! ' said Howson.

The trio then adjourned to the stable, where
they found the groom just about to turn
Vermont out for the night.

For the benefit of those readers who have
never been in Virginia, we may tell them that

E

50 HARK FORRARD!

the usual custom there is, to keep two or three
horses up during the day, saddled and bridled,
and hitched up as they call it, to a tree ; so that
if any member of the family wants a horse he
just unhitches one, jumps on to his back, and
canters away.

' Saddle Vermont at once,' said Howson.

Ray Danby put the bridle on while the
groom was saddling, and in less than a minute
rode out of the stable on the horse's back. Quite
a nice horse was he, bay, 15. 2 J, showing a lot
of quality, and with such a capital back and
short legs, that he looked well up to thirteen
stone over an English country.

Ray cantered him down to a gate, opened
it, and set him going in the field beyond.
Swinging round to the right at the far end of
it, he came straight for some posts and rails that
divided the fields. Meanw^hile How^son, Acton,
and Reginald had strolled across the lawn to the
sunk fence which overlooked the fields beneath.
The horse behaved to perfection, jusb shortened
his stride as he got close to the fence, steadied

HARK FORRARD! 51

himself, and popped over cleverly. Ray turned
him round and trotted him back at it ; he
jumped it equally well.

' May I have a ride ? ' said Reginald.

' Certainly,' said Howson.

Springing down the sunk fence, Reginald
was soon on the horse's back, and after a five
minutes' ride, and * throwing a couple of laps,'
as Paddy says, he came to the conclusion that
if it were possible the horse should be his pro-
perty before he left the house. Dismounting,
he gave him to ^the groom, and was soon in
deep consultation with Ray Danby.

' I see you mean to have him,' said the
latter ; ' he is a nice horse, isn't he ? Worth a
bit of money at home. How he would carry a
woman, wouldn't he ? Such a perfect mouth.'

* I certainly do mean to have him, and I
will ask you to do the deal for me if you don't
mind.'

By this time it was quite dark, and the
supper-bell ringing, they were soon seated round
the hospitable board. Hospitality in Virginia

E 2

52 HARK FORRARD!

cannot be excelled, and a Virginian supper is a
meal to be remembered. In addition to all the
dishes we have at home, you there have the
delicious buckwheat cakes, the Indian corn just
plucked from the stalk, the magnificent toma-
toes, the charming Cantelupe melons, the sweet
potatoes, and a lot of other delicacies.

As they drove away from the house the
moon was rising over the woods, and not only
lighted them on their homeward way, but bathed
the country side in that sweet soft light which
so beautifies all it touches.

' Well, have you bought him ? ' were Regi-
nald's first words as they drove away.

' Yes, I have. What do you think I gave
for him ? '

' A hundred and fifty dollars ? '
' No ; a hundred and thirty. I think he is
worth it too. I fancy you will be able to get
the horses home from Baltimore for ten pounds
a head, all told, and if you can land a high-
class galloping hunter like Vermont for forty
pounds, you can't go wrong, can you ? '

HARK FORRARD! 53,

' No, indeed ; I should like to have him over
at your place, and use him as a hack while I
am with you, if you don't mind.'

' I thought you would, so I have arranged
that he is to be sent over to-morrow morning.'

^ Maryland knows the way home,' said
Acton. ' I should not care to go this pace
along a road that I didn't know, even in
England, and I cannot congratulate you on
your roads in this country.'

' They are beautiful though now, my dear
Alfred,' said Mrs. Danby. 'You should see
them in winter ; they are positively impassable
in some places.'

54 HARK FORRARD!

CHAPTER V

The next few days were spent in riding about
to look at tlie few horses that were in the neigh-
bourhood, and three more were added to the
string.

' Here is a letter from Maddox,' said Ray
Danby one day when the mail arrived. ' Let
us see what he says about Independent. He is
out and out the best horse in this country, and
I am quite sure that if you can get him, you
will make the very best steeplechase horses at
home look to their laurels. Yes, he says he will
sell him for three hundred and fifty. I thought
he could be bought for even less than that, but
he is dirt cheap even at that price. He wants
us to go over and see him to-morrow if possible.*

HARK FORRARD! 55

* How far is it ? ' said Reginald.

' Oh ! only an houi' and a lialf from Cat-
letts.'

' All right ; let us go to-morrow.'

Suffice it to say that they not only went,
but that after riding the horse they bought him.
He was a really charming horse, 15. 3 J, nearly,
if not quite, thoroughbred ; in fact the only
doubt that existed as to his being a clean bred
'un was a little uncertainty as to his grand-dam's
pedigree, but as she won all the long-distance
races in the South before the War, there was
but little the matter with her breeding.

' What do 3'Ou fellows say to going to
Washington next week ? ' said Ray Dan by the
following day. ' I see the Dunmore Club have
their race meeting at Ivy City on Thursday
and Saturday. Washington is a charming
place, and is the best-paved city in the world.'

' I am game to go, certainly,' said Reginald.

' And I too,' said Acton.

' I wish Independent was entered for some
of the races there. He would take a lot of

56. HARK FORRARD!

beating,' said Danby. ' Maddox said tlie horse
was just about fit to run ; in fact, if he had not
sold him to you he intended to run him at
Fredericksburg the week after next. I think
you will both enjoy this meeting at Wash-
ington. All the horses that run must be
owned and ridden by recognised members of
some of the hunt clubs, and they are uncommonly
strict in enforcing the rules. It is marvellous
what strides hunting and hunt meetings have
made in America during the last ten years. It
is a positive fact that ten years ago there did
not exist a pack of hounds in the country under
proper management, and now you can find at
least thirty packs, and in the majority of cases
hounds, huntsmen, and whips have been im-
ported from England. They go, too, like
blazes, I can tell you. Nearly all the fences are
timber, and the highest timber- jumpers in the
world are to be found here. Six foot ten and
three-quarters has been jumped by a horse
bred in Canada: he has repeatedly jumped six
foot six inches, and at the Boston show last

HARK FORRARD! 57

fall he jumped six feet ten inches and three-
quarters.'

' Now, there is a horse that would be worth
taking home if you like,' said Reginald. ' I
remember that two or three years ago half
London went to see six feet jumped by an
Australian horse at the Aquarium. I wonder
what the owner of this horse would take for
him.'

' I don't know, but you are nearly sure to
meet him at Washington, as he is a member of
the Rockaway Club up North, and always runs
his horses here. ' I fancy, though, that you will
hardly be able to induce him to sell, as he is
a rich man, and likes to be the owner of the
highest jumper in the world. There are scores
of horses in this country that think nothing of
jumping five feet six inches. By the way, I
have engaged Jim Russell for you ; he is a
capital man with a horse, and you can safely
leave all your horses here under his charge
while we are away.'

The following Wednesday saw the quartette

58 HARK FORRARD!

comfortably installed at the Shoreham Hotel in
Washington. Washington is, we would inform
our readers, one of the very nicest, cleanest,
and best-paved cities in the world, and is in
marked contrast to New York as regards its
paving. In fact the author can conscientiously
assert, that whereas New York is without ex-
ception far and away the worst-paved city he
has ever seen, Washington is quite the best.
Pennsylvania Avenue is a beautiful boulevard,
and, as are all the other thoroughfares, is
planted with trees.

At breakfast the following morning the
arrangements for the day's sport were read aloud
to the assembled party by Ray Danby. The
first race was fixed for three o'clock, and a
special train which left at 2.15 was to land
them within two hundred and fifty yards of the
course, which was four miles out from Washing-
ton. There were to be five races^ and a return
special was to leave at 5.45, so enabling the
race-goers to get back in ample time for
dinner. The morning was spent in a visit to

HARK FORRARD! 59

the Capitol, where the American Parliament
sits. This is one of the most beautiful build-
ings on earth, and was immensely admired by
the whole party.

The course, or as it is always called in
America, the ^ track,' was reached in ample
time for the first race. The track was an oval
with the best possible turns, and like all courses
in the States, was perfectly level, and instead
of grass, as we have in England, was simply
soil harrowed repeatedly till it was first-rate
going. As most of our readers are doubtless
aware, the time test is implicitly believed in by
our American cousins, and, under the circum-
stances, rightly too. The gradients, which on
our courses are of infinite variety, do not exist
there, and their absence, coupled with the fact
that the atmosphere in America is much more
rarefied than at home, is undoubtedly the cause
of the marvellously fast times that are made
there. It is, at all events, an indisputable fact
that American horses cannot and do not make
such fast time in England as they do in their

6o HARK FORRARD!

own country. America has, however, sent us
over some really good horses, Parole, Iroquois,
and Foxhall to wit, to say nothing of Duke of
Magenta, who, had he not gone dead amiss in
England, would undoubtedly have added to the
laurels already won by our Transatlantic cousins.

Having safely deposited Mrs. Danby in the
Grand Stand, the three men descended to the
saddling paddock to take stock of the com-
petitors for the first race. One of the first
people they met was Mr. Howlett, the owner of
Ontario, the marvellous high jumper, and to
him Ray Danby introduced the others.

' I have been hearing all about your won-
derful jumper,' said Reginald Miller ; ' I should
much like to see him.'

' That you can easily do,' said his owner, ' as
he is at this moment in Washington. I am
going to take him on to Baltimore to the show
next week. If you gentlemen have nothing
better to do, I will drive you back after the
races. You can see him, and then dine with
me at the Metropolitan Club.'

HARK FORRARD! 6r

This invitation was accepted, and the bell
ringing for going to the post, the trio returned
to the Grand Stand to get a view of the race.
This was neither more nor less than a pro-
cession, as Mr. Howlett's Buckshot, ridden by
Mr. Foxhall Sharpe, went to the front the in-
stant the flag fell, and won almost in a trot by
half a dozen lengths. This gentleman, we may
add, has done what we believe has never been
done before by any of our own gentlemen
riders — ridden in every race on the day's card
and won them all.

' I see you have a Pari Mutuel here,' said
Reginald to Ray Danby, as they strolled about
the inclosure after the race.

' Yes, that is a very popular way of backing
horses in this country. They deduct ten per
cent, from your winnings, but thsn they don't
welsli you. Pool selling is also a very favourite
game of the bookmakers.'

' Suppose we walk across the course and
look at some of the steeplechase fences,' said
Reginald.

62 HARK FORRARD!

' All riglit ; we shall find that the ground is
like iron, I expect, but they don't mind that in
this country.'

They had no sooner crossed the course and
got among the carriages on the other side, than
Eay Danby's attention was drawn to a lady
who was most unmistakably bowing either to
Reginald or himself, and as he had not the
slightest remembrance of ever having seen her
in his life, he felt sure that the bow must be
intended for Reginald.

' Do you know a lady up on the top of that
coach who is bowing to you ? '

Reginald looked, and saw Lina Lancelot.
His first impulse was to cut and run, but he
felt that, however much he might wish to do
so, that was impossible, so bowing to the lady,
he went up to the coach.

' How do you do, Mr. Miller ? Who would
ever have thought of meeting you here ? Is
Mr. Acton with you ? '

' Yes, indeed ho is ; allow me to introduce
you to Mr. Danby, with whom we are staying,

HARK FORRARD! 63

and whose wife is Mr. Acton's sister. But
what brings you here ? '

' Well, you see we have a house in Wash-
ington, and I persuaded mother to come here
for a week, as in addition to the races there
is a very good ball which we call a German.
You ought to come to it ; it is to-morrow
night.'

' I am quite sure that my wife will be de-
lighted to go to it,' said Danby. ' She is very
fond of dancing, and gets but little chance
where we live in Virginia, as there is hardly a
dance of any description in our neighbourhood
unless when they have one or two at the White
Sulphur Springs, near Warrington.'

' As far as I am concerned,' said Reginald,
' I am not a votary of Terpsichore, and always
feel inclined to agree with the Chinese Ambas-
sador who, when taken to a ball at the Mansion
House and asked what he thought of it, said,
" Yes, it is beautiful, but such hard work. I
wonder you don't get your servants to do it for

you." '

64 HARK FORRARD!

' Well, I daresay we shall see some of you,'
said Miss Lancelot.

' I think I can safely promise that my wife
and I will be there,' said Ray Danby, ' and I am
sure that Alfred will come with us. If it was
a case of riding twenty horses across country,
Mr. Miller would not think it a bit too much
trouble, but in this case I dare not answer for
him.'

The two friends continued their walk, and
after an inspection of the course came to the
conclusion that it was very much like an English
steeplechase country, though ditches on the
take off side were conspicuous by their absence.

' Where did you meet Miss Lancelot ? ' said
Danby. ' In England, I suppose.'

' She was a fellow-passenger of ours on
board the " Scythia " coming out.'

' What a good-looking girl she is ! '

' Yes ! ' answered Reginald, but in such a
curt sort of manner that Ray Danby thought
it as well to let the subject drop. He could not,
however, help wondering what was up, as he

HARK FORRARD! 65

bad noticed Reginald's constrained manner the
whole time that they were talking to Miss
Lancelot.

As they got back to the paddock the
numbers were just going up for the Hunters'
Flat Race, and Mr. Hewlett's Mogul was made
favourite. Neptune, ridden by Mr. Maddox,
the best horseman in Virginia (Ray Danby
always excepted), was second favourite, and the
betting foreshadowed the result, as Mogul won
comfortably by a length and a half, though
Neptune, had he been as fit as the winner,
would undoubtedly have beaten him ; he had,
however, hardly eaten a mouthful of anything
since his arrival in Washington four days before.

' Where did you think Independent would
have been?' said Danby after the race to
Reginald.

' I think he would have won easy.'

' Do you ? So do I. Now look here ; if you
are game to pop it down, you can win a
thousand dollars like a shot. Hewlett will back
his horse, and so will all the fellows here. Be-

66 HARK FORRARD!

sides, this very horse, Mogul, beat Independent
a year ago in this same race, but Independent
was not fit to run against a jackass then. I
begged Maddox not to run him ; he had only
just got over a real bad attack of influenza, and
though he was looking fresh and well, he had
no muscle on him, and was, as they all are after
that, as weak as a cat. Mind you, Mogul is
very fit now, fitter than your horse, as yours
wants a couple of good gallops ; but still I am
game to back yours if he runs.'

' How are we to work it ? ' said Reginald.

' No trouble about that ; leave it to me.
We dine with Howlett to-night at the Metro-
politan Club ; and if we were as sure of winning
as we are of getting a match on, we might be
quite happy.'

' All right, then ; I will leave it all to you.'

After partaking of a most excellent dinner
at the Metropolitan Club, during the course of
which the day's sport was the principal topic of
conversation, they adjourned to the smoking
room.

HARK FORRARD.r 67

' Mr. Hewlett,' said Ray Danby, ' are you
game to make a match against Independent,
the horse that Mogul beat here last year ? '

' Certainly I am,' responded Hewlett, ' but I
shall be sorry for the backers of Indepen-
dent. As your delightful old Jorrocks says,
" It is a guinea 'at to a 'arf- crown gossamer "
on Mogul beating that horse whenever or
wherever they meet, either on the flat or over
a country.'

' Well, but remember that Independent was
a long way from fit last time they met, and
though not cherry-ripe now, I know that he is
really well and full of muscle.'

' I don't care how well he is. Mogul would
have won by a hundred yards to-day if we had
wanted to, but Foxy Sharpe knows better than
to do that.'

' Very well, then,' said Ray Danby, ' I will
back Independent to run Mogul either on the
flat or over hurdles on Monday next.'

' Has Maddox authorised you to make this
match ? ' ^

F 2

68 HARK FORRARD!

' No, he has not, but Mr. Miller here bought
the horse last week from Maddox, and though
not wound up to concert pitch, he is stones a
better horse than he was last year.'

' If Mr. Miller likes to have a friendly
match I shall be delighted,' said Howlett.

' By all means, then, let us do so,' said
Reginald. ' For how much, shall we say ? Five
hundred dollars ? We don't want to win a lot
of money from each other, I am sure.'

' Certainly not. I will run you two miles
over the Ivy City course, eight flights of hurdles,
each horse to carry one hundred and sixty-eight
pounds.'

' Let me see. How much is a hundred and
sixty-eight pounds ? ' answered Reginald.

' Twelve stone,' put in Ray Danby. ' They
always talk in pounds here ; if you ask a man
what he weighs, he will always tell you so many
pounds. One has to think how much it is at
first, but one soon gets used to it.'

' I shall be delighted,' said Reginald.

' Who will you get to ride ? '

HARK FORRARD! 69

' I shall ride my own. I suppose you will
put up Mr. Sharpe.'

' That I certainly shall, if he can stay down
here to ride.'

' I have to ride at Coney Island on Tuesday,'
said Foxhall Sharpe, ' but I can easily manage it,
as I can go up by the night train to New York.
Do you want to back your horse, Mr. Miller ? I
should like to have a few dollars on my mount,
and unless Independent has improved a great
deal since last year, I shall beat you very easily.'

^ I will back my horse for two hundred and
fifty dollars if you like,' said Reginald.

^ Agreed,' said Sharpe.

The news of the match had by this time
spread through the club, and as almost every
man dining in the club that night had been at
Ivy City during the day, they all took great
interest in it. Reginald was positively inun-
dated with offers to lay against his horse, and
before the evening was over he found on con-
sulting his book that he had backed Independent
for no less than seventeen hundred and fifty

70 ■ HARK FORRARD!

dollars, in addition to the five hundred dollars
for which the match was originally made. Ray
Danby too had several wagers, so that the match
bid fair to be the most sporting event that had
taken place in Washington for many a day.
Ray Danby sent off a telegram first thing next
morning, telling Jim Russell to come down with
the horse.

Miss Lancelot and her mother called on
Mrs. Danby at the Shoreham Hotel in the after-
noon, and were delighted to find that it was the
intention of the whole party to go to the dance
that night. Reginald Miller took the precau-
tion of having a Turkish bath, and, weighing,
he found that he could ride twelve stone in his
own seven-pound saddle, so he sent Russell a
wire to bring that down with him on the follow-
ing day.

' I hope you will enjoy your dance to-night,'
said he, as they sat down to dinner at their hotel.

' Are you not coming ? ' said Mrs. Danby.
' I am sure the Lancelots will be awfully disap-
pointed if you don't.'

HARK FORRARD! 71

' Must take great care of myself,' said he.
* You see I have to ride two miles over hurdles
on Monday, and there is a tremendous lot of
money on. Ray Danby will have to walk home
if I don't win.'

' You might come just for an hour or two,
old man,' said Acton, with a meaning look. ' I
am going, and if you do ever dance I can pro-
mise you a real treat, as I am quite sure that
my sister will dance with you.'

' Speak for yourself if you please. How do
you know that I have not promised every dance
already ? ' said Mrs. Danby. ' However, though
I am an old married woman I do love dancing
as much as ever I did, and shall be delighted to
dance with you if you will come, Mr. Miller.'

' There, Master Reginald, I think you are
fairly landed this time,' said Acton.

' No doubt about it,' said Ray Danby.

' I should indeed be a brute if I did not
go,' said Reginald, ' and as you are so kind, we
will have a dance or two together.'

On anival in the ballroom both Reginald

72 HARK FORRARDf

and Acton could not help looking for one woman
alone. They had not long to wait, as Miss
Lancelot, who was valsing with Foxhall Sharpe,
came past them before they had been a minute
in the room.

' There is Miss Lancelot,' said Mrs. Danby ;
' does not she dance well ? '

Mrs. Danby was right this time and no
mistake, as it was acknowledged in all New
York and Washington ballrooms that Lina
Lancelot was far and away the best dancer in
the country. She managed to stop close to
them, and Mrs. Danby's observant eyes made a
very shrewd guess at the situation as far as
Miss Lancelot and Reginald Miller were con-
cerned.

She was, however, considerably puzzled at
Reginald's omitting to ask Lina to dance, and
when a few minutes afterwards she herself was
dancing with him, she proceeded (as ladies will
sometimes do) to pump him.

' I should recommend you to secure a dance
with Miss Lancelot as soon as you can,' said

HARK FORRARD! 73

she, ' or else you will find her card full, if it is
not so already.'

' Oh ! she knows such a lot of people here/
said Reginald, ' it is a hundred to one against
her having one left.'

' I could have understood that speech better,
Mr. Miller, if I had not danced with you, but
this one turn that we have already had tells me
that you are really fond of dancing, and that
you dance very well indeed. Surely you do not
mean to tell me that you consider yourself too
old to still enjoy a dance with a good partner,
on a good floor, accompanied by a really good
band such as this is ? I am quite sure that none
of Miss Lancelot's partners can dance better
than, if as well as, you do.'

Reginald, however, refused to be drawn, and
Mrs. Danby, at the conclusion of their dance,
told her husband that though a beautiful dancer,
Mr. Miller was really the stupidest man in a
ballroom that she had ever come across.

' I wonder what is up between him and
Miss Lancelot,' said Ray Danby.

74 HARK FORRARD!

' Why ever should you say that, my dear ?
It is odd, for I have been puzzling my brain
ever since I have been in this room on that very
subject/

' I will tell you why,' said Kay Danby.
' Palmer and I walked round the steeplechase
course yesterday, and just as we crossed the
course we came upon a drag on which was
Miss Lancelot. She bowed to Miller — I had to
draw his attention to the fact — and though she
was most cordial in her greeting when we did
go up to the coach, he was anything but in
good form, and threw cold water on the idea
of coming to this dance. When we left 1
asked him where he had met her, and he was
so very short in his manner that I came to the
conclusion that there had been a row between
them. What do you think ? '

' I think that she cares for him awfully ;
but I am completely puzzled. If I were not so
sure that she cares for him I should think that
he had proposed and been refused. I must
ask Alfred when I get a chance.'

HARK FORRARD! 75'

The author is sorry to say that poor Lina
Lancelot not only had not her programme full,
but that, just on the chance of Reginald asking
her, she had kept many blank spaces on her
card. The author also feels quite sure that the
ladies who may honour him by reading this
book are at this moment perfectly furious with
Reginald Miller for being so blind ; but you
see, my dear ladies, he is a man, only a poor
stupid man, and consequently in affairs of this
sort just as blind as the proverbial bat. He
was very miserable though — not that he does
not deserve to be so from the ladies' point of
view — but then you see he really thought she
did not care a bit for him, and bearing in mind
what Alfred Acton had told him on the night
they landed, and after he had just received his
own conge, he felt quite sure that the citadel
had been successfully stormed by another.
Somehow or other it never entered his head to
think that it was within the bounds of possi-
bility that he could by any chance be that
other for whom she had confessed to Alfred

^(i HARK FORRARD!

that she did care. As the evening wore on he
found the situation becoming more and more
unbearable, and telling Alfred Acton on the
quiet that he should stroll back to the hotel, he
betook himself thither.

Acton danced with Lina Lancelot on two
occasions, and each time thought her more
delightful than the last. He had, however,
schooled himself to accept the position which
she assigned him ; and though it was very hard,
he felt that he would rather have just a little
crumb than no bread at all. And what of
Lina Lancelot ? As dance succeeded dance
and he never came to ask for even one, she,
poor girl, was indeed to be pitied ; her pride,
however, came to the rescue, and she danced
and laughed with greater apparent zest than
any of her partners had ever before seen. It
was quite as well for Reginald Miller that he
did go home when he did, as, had he stayed any
longer and asked for a dance then, he would
have received what the ladies will all say was
his deserts, namely, a real good snub.

HARK FORRARD! jy

On the following day Independent arrived
sound and well, and on Saturday morning
Reginald rode him a two-mile gallop over the
hurdles. The horse behaved as well as his most
sanguine admirers could wish, and both Acton
and Ray Danby were delighted with him.

' I hear that Foxy Sharpe means to make
all the running and cut you down,' said Ray,
as they sat at breakfast at the Shoreham.
' My opinion is that he will cut himself down
instead, as I am quite sure that this horse
stays.'

' Well, of coiirse we really cannot tell with-
out having something alongside him,' said
Reginald. ' But he feels like staying, and he
was catching hold all the way, especially at
the finish.'

' I had the watch on you,' said Ray Danby,
'and you did the two miles in four minutes
twelve seconds — a fair nice exercise gallop.
If you can do it in four minutes and four
seconds with the weight up on Monday, it will
be a good performance.'

78 HARK FORRARD!

' What a fuss you chaps make about time
in this country,' said Reginald.

' So would you if you lived here, my dear
fellow. I have seen several horses sold simply
because they have broken such and such time
with such and such a weight up. Remember,
we have not the variety of courses here that
you have in England, and so time is reliable ;
and in England time is acknowledged as the
best test for running and cycling. In fact they
are as keen about record breaking there as we
are here.'

' That is quite true,' said Alfred. ' We run
our races so differently though in England, that
it would be useless to rely on the time test.
Look at half the steeplechases — hunters' races
especially. I remember once riding a grey
mare that I had, a beautiful hunter, quick as
lightning at her fences, but could not stay a
little bit. I was riding her in a hunters' race
at Usseter ; all the other chaps that rode in the
race were either young farmers or people who
knew very little about racing. Their idea was

HARK FORRARD! 79

to let something make the running quite ir-
respective of what pace it was made at. Well,
I took my mare to the front before we had gone
a quarter of a mile, and I cantered the whole
journey till two fences from home. I declare I
did not go twelve miles an hour, but they were
quite content to wait on me. When I got so
far on the journey I shook her up and let her
go best pace home. She took them clean off
their legs and won anyhow.'

' I hope you will get this horse home all
right/ said Ray Danby. ' I am sure he will win
you many a good chase, and as he is a maiden
over a country, I should advise you to run him
in the Grand National Hunt Steeplechase. You
will have all the season to school him with your
own hounds, and I venture to prophesy that he
will be just about your favourite horse by the
time cub-hunting is over.'

If the number of coaches and carriages that
were to be seen wending their way to the race-
course on the eventful Monday afforded any
criterion, it might fairly be said that the match

So HARK FORRARD!

was an event of absorbing interest in the sport-
ing world of Washington. The ladies, dear
things, took the greatest interest in it. Our
readers will quite agree with us that no more
need be said as to the success of the affair from
a society point of view. Right royal was the
weather, as fine as it always is when our
gracious Sovereign honours any gathering what-
soever. The betting was decidedly in favour
of Mogul, and his admirers had to lay two to
one on him at the fall of the flag. Foxhall
Sharpe, who rode the favourite, took him to
the front immediately the flag fell. Reginald
Miller lay two lengths behind for about three-
quarters of a mile, and then, finding that Inde-
pendent was going quite as fast as he liked,
took a still stronger pull, and a mile from home
was quite ten lengths behind. At the half-
mile post he found, however, that Mogul began
to come back to him most unmistakably, and
waiting on him till two distances from home,
he closed, and coming away he won with con-
summate ease by three lengths.

HARK FORRARD! 8l

' I thought you were beat, old man,' were
Ray Danby's first words. * I thought you were
beat before you had gone a mile.'

^ So I was, at least I could not go any
faster. The horse was short of a gallop or two,
but the pull I took saved him, and the other
horse settled himself as dead as a stone half a
mile from home.'

' By Jove ! Reggie,' said Acton, ' you have
set one young lady up in gloves for the rest of
her natural life.'

' Who is that ? ' said Reginald.

* Why, Miss Lancelot. I heard her take a
hundred pairs to fifty from Foxy Sharpe as he
rode down to the post, and I hear that she has
taken all the bets that she could get.'

' Congratulate you, Mr. Miller,' said Foxhall
Sharpe, as Reginald stepped out of the scales.
' I thought I had you settled before we had
got halfway.'

' So you had, if you could have gone that
pace all the way,' said Reginald ; ' but you
settled yourself first.'

§2 HARK FORRARD!

' It was a very fast-run race,' said Ray
Danby. ' I took tlie time, four, four and a
quarter.'

' Are you sure ? ' said Sliarpe.

' Quite sure.'

' Then, Mr. Miller, allow me to say, if
he is for sale that I shall be very happy
to give you two thousand dollars for y^ur
horse.'

^ Many thanks,' said Reginald. ' But my
friend Mr. Acton owns half of the horse, and
if he will agree to it, I am most anxious to
take him to England.'

'That indeed I will,' said Acton. 'We
mean to win some steeplechases with him at
home, Mr. Sharpe.'

' Quite right, Mr. Acton ; you have got a
good horse. I should think he is a nice horse
to ride, isn't he ? ' turning to Reginald.

' That he is, indeed, and he jumps a bit
cjuicker than Mogul, I think.'

' No doubt about it ; he did all through.
Of course I took no notice of the two last

HARK FORRARD! 83

hurdles, because Mogul was beat, and a beaten
horse must dwell.' .

* That's true ; but what a big place a beaten
horse can lob over if you only give him time
and don't bustle him too much. I know I
would sooner ride at the biggest fence that ever
was seen, than ride a really beaten horse at a
gap ; they always chance it, and come down
bang a-top of you.'

On the following day the Auburn party
returned home in high feather. The result of
the match was highly satisfactory, as Reginald
Miller had won two thousand nine hundred and
dfty dollars, Acton one thousand five hundred
dollars, and Eay Danby one thousand two
hundred. A day or two after their return to
Auburn, Ray Danby and Reginald Miller drove
over to Alder, a charming place in Loudoun
county where Henry Fairfield, a great friend of
Ray Danby, lived. Here they stopped three or
four days, and picked up some nice horses.
While they were away Alfred Acton and
Mrs. Danby gave the flying Maryland but

o 2

84 HARK FORRARD!

little rest, as slie drove about to all tlie nice
places in the neighbourhood.

' By the way, Alfred,' said she, on one of
these occasions, 'have Mr. Miller and Miss
Lancelot quarrelled ? '

' Not that I know of,' said he. ' Why ? '

* Because both Ray and I thought that he
was very short and reserved when she was
there ; he noticed it when they met on the
course, I could not help doing so at the ball
the other night.'

' Now listen to me, Mary, my dear. When
first we met you told me that I looked worried,
and I said I would tell you some day all about
it. Here goes. We saw a great deal of
Miss Lancelot on the passage, as Reginald, she,
and I all sat together at the captain's table.
We were capital friends before we had been
two days at sea. We both fell in love with
her, though I was much harder hit than
Reginald. In fact, she was so delightfully kind,
and seemed to like being with me so much,
that I actually proposed to her in New York

HARK FORRARDJ «$

the night that we landed, and she refused
me.'

'Poor dear fellow. And what about Mr.
Miller ? He did not propose, did he ? '

' No, he did not. In fact they did not seem to
hit it half as well as she and I did the last three
or four days of the passage, and when Mrs.
Lancelot invited us both to dine at her house
in New York the evening we landed, he de-
clined. I went and got refused for my
pains.'

' You are quite sure that he never asked
her to marry him.'

' Certainly ; besides, it would have been no
good if he had, as she is in love with another
man.'

' How do you know ? '

' Because she told me. I actually dared to
ask if there was no hope for me even in the re-
mote future, for I would wait ten years for her
rather than not get her, but she told me so
plainly that it could never be, that I had to ac-
quiesce in the inevitable. In fact, although it

85 HARK FORRARDJ

was evidently great pain to tell me so, she did
tell me that her heart was another's.'

' She did not tell you whose, I suppose ? '
' Well, no, not quite ; but I am quite certain
that poor old Keginald has not a million to
one chance. Why, he was not in it even
with me, and I was nowhere when it came to
racing.'

' There you go again ; you are as bad as you
used to be in old days. What a rage old
Lady Spinna was in with you when her son
had had just one glass more port than was con-
ducive to steadiness, and began to wobble about
all over the place as he entered the drawing-
room. She cornered him, blew him up sky
high, and you, meaning to do your best for him,
told her she must run him at one or two quiet
little meetings till he got used to the crowd
and run him on a left-handed course with a
pricker on, and be very careful not to outclass
him. I shall never forget it. Her late la-
mented had made his money in bobbins, which
he found easier to handle than his h's; she

HARK FORRARD! 87

took it as a personal insult, and did not forgive
you for ages.'

' I remember, of course ; that was the chap
that we always used to say had hunted and
cricketed himself into society. But joking
apart, I really think that Reginald Miller is
quite out of the betting as regards Miss
Lancelot.'

' I am not sure of that by any means,
though you have seen so much more of them
together than I have, that you ought certainly
to know more about it than I possibly can ; but
you men are so easily laid on to the wrong line.
I sincerely hope you will not say a word about
this conversation to Mr. Miller, as he will
think it an unwarrantable piece of impertinence
on my part to discuss his affairs.'

' My dear, that I certainly shall not dream
of doing ; and if you knew him as well as I do,
you would be quite sure that I should never
think of doing so.'

' When does your steamer leave Baltimore ? '

' On Thursday — this day week.'

88 HARK FORRARD!

' Oh dear, liow quickly your visit has
passed ; how I wish it was three weeks ago.'

The next day Eay Danby and Reginald
Miller returned with the four horses that they
had bought near Alder, and a very nice lot
they were too. Two hunters and a pair of
15.3 harness horses, each of which could
trot his mile in two minutes fifty-five
seconds.

' Did you see many nice horses while you
were away ? ' said Acton, after the new pur-
chases had been inspected and vetted.

' If we had bought all that we saw, we
should have had at least one hundred,' answered
Reginald. ' As we were riding along the road
the evening we got to Alder, to look at this
pair, a man passed and looked very hard at us.
Two or three minutes afterwards we heard him
galloping up behind us. He drew up alongside
me, and said, " Say, are you the Englishmen
that are knocking around buying up horses ? "
I told him that w^e were prepared to buy any
really nice horses if we could get them worth

HARK FORRARD! 89

the money. He said, "Well, see here, if you
can come to Salem on Friday morning, I reckon
I can show you a splendid lot of horses, elegant
high-headed horses." As Salem was almost on
the way here, Fairfield said that we might as
well call there. We did so, and arrived there
at five this morning. Salem is a village con-
sisting of one long, narrow street, like all the
other villages about here, with a wooden side-
walk on each side of the road. As we drove
in, it became evident that every horse within
ten miles had been brought in to be shown to
us. Both sides of the road were lined with
horses hitched to the palings. Every man who
had brought a horse expected us to buy, and
was quite offended if we did not at least ride
it. If we did so, and said the horse did not
suit us, they promptly said, " What are his
points that don't suit you ? " They would then
proceed to recount the numerous virtues pos-
sessed by the horse. I was very nearly let in,
though, by the very identical chap that got us
to go to Salem.'

90 HARK FORRARD!

' How was that ? Did he try to stick yoa
with a screw ? '

' It was like this. He showed me quite a
nice fourteen stone horse : he asked me to ride
him over some rails. I did. He fenced beau-
tifully, his legs and feet were of the best ; in
fact he was all a nice horse, six years old, but
his teeth were frightfully worn. He had a fair
six-year-old mouth by his corner teeth, but his
front ones were worn down terribly. I asked
him if he was a crib-biter ; he looked a mixture
of puzzled and innocent, and said, '' Never heard
of no crib-bit in'. What is that ? " I explained
it, and he said, " No, I reckon they don't never
do that in America." I then asked him the
price. '' Two hundred dollars," said he. I bid
him one hundred dollars, but he said that one
hundred and seventy-five was the lowest he
would take. I got on again and had another
ride ; he was a real nice horse to ride. How-
ever, the owner stuck to one hundred and
seventy-five dollars. I bid him one hundred
and twenty-five, but not an inch would he

HARK FORRARD! 9!

budge. A happy thought struck: me, so I
jumped on again, cantered off up the street,
turned down a lane by the side of the hotel
(there is nothing less than an hotel in America).
I jumped off at the stables, took the horse in,
pulled off the bridle, went out and shut the
door, and put my eye to the keyhole. Just as
i expected, I had hardly time to close the door
before he caught fair hold. I heard it plainly,
I went in again, put his bridle on, and rode
him back to where my friend was standing.
He evidently had quite made up his mind that
I meant to have the horse. " Well, stranger,
I reckon you will give me the one hundred
and seventy dollars now." " No, thank you,"
said I, " he won't suit me." " Say, what are
his points you don't like ? " " He is a crib-
biter, as I thought he was at first." " How
do you know ? " I told him what I had done ;
he was not the least angry or disappointed, he
just looked at me for a minute and then said,
" What'll you take ? " He introduced me to
two or three of the leading people of that part

92 HARK FORRARDI

of the countiy, and took care to tell them that
I was a wonderful judge of a horse.'

^ Ah ! ' said Ray Danby, ' that is one thing
I do like about these people ; they are always
willing to acknowledge the existence of superior
talent in another.'

On the following Sunday morning they
started at seven o'clock to ride to Baltimore,
a distance of about sixty-six miles. Unfortu-
nately, after they had got about seven miles on
the journey, a chestnut horse cast a fore-shoe ;
this horse was only delivered at Auburn the
night before, and the man from whom he had
been bought had promised to have him shod
all round before delivery. This he did not do.
Ray Danby, however, who was of course with
them, said that there was a blacksmith at
Gainsville, eight miles on, and felt sure that
though it was Sunday be would in a case
of emergency shoe a horse. On arrival at
Gainsville they found that the blacksmith,
a gentleman of colour, was to preach at the
chapel two or three hundred yards up the road,

HARK FORRARD! 93^

and had just gone there. Thither Reginald
followed him, and as service had not begun
found him in the porch. He explained what
he wanted, but the blacksmith said it wag
impossible, as he had to preach a sermon, and
besides, it was ' de Blessed Sabbath.'

* Well, look here,' said Reginald ; * I have
to ship these horses from Baltimore to England
on Wednesday, and I must have this horse
shod ; he can't travel on these roads without a
shoe on ; I will give you five dollars if you will
come and shoe him.'

'Here, Brudder Tapssott, I reckon you
will hab to do de preachin' to-day. I's got
portent bisness at de house,' and with that
he made tracks for the forge at a grand
pace.

After an uneventful journey they reached
Baltimore on the Tuesday morning, having
slept at a small place eight miles out on
Monday night.

Having safely stabled the horses at Red-
seller's capital stables, Ray Danby, Reginald,

94 HARK FORRARD!

and Acton went down to tlie docks to inspect
the ' Russia ' and to see that the boxes were
all right for the horses. They found that they
had been put up on the main deck, five on the
port and five on the starboard side. They
consisted of long narrow stalls, padded in front
and behind and at the sides. They were, of
course, too narrow to permit of the horses lying
down, and as all practical horsemen know, a
horse can travel without lying down for many
weeks if necessary (for instance, Ingomar by
Uncas from Wild Deer, who. won the Croydon
Hurdle Race, was sent to New Zealand in the
' British King.' The author saw him land, and
though for forty-three days he had never once
lain down, his legs were as fine as silk). On
Wednesday the horses were safely shipped, and
on Thursday morning at daybreak the ' Russia '
steamed out of the harbour. Fifteen days after-
wards they arrived at Avonmouth, having had
a marvellously smooth passage. The horses did
well most of the voyage, though they were a
bit off their feed occasionally ; however, as you

HARK FORRARD! 95,

cannot keep horses' blood too cool on board
ship, they were none the worse for that.

Behold, then, Reginald, Acton, and the
horses safely landed at Avonmouth.

' You go and pay the duty on the tobacco,
old man, will you, while I get the horses
boxed ? Fortunately there is a siding within
one hundred yards.'

Acton went to the Customs, saw the chief
official there, who asked him into his private
rooms.

' I am exceedingly sorry,' said he, ' to be
obliged to tell you that you have brought
more tobacco than is allowable, and that
much as I should like to pass it through, I
really dare not do so.'

' Good gracious ! ' said Acton, ' do you
mean to say that we have to forfeit twenty-six
pounds of this beautiful tobacco ? '

'The regulations are most strict and very,
distinct ; ten pounds is the maximum amount
that a private individual can bring. If he is
willing to pay a fine, he may bring as much as

96 HARK FORRARD!

twenty, but no more, unless he is a tobacco
merchant, or becomes one fro tern, by bring-
ing eighty pounds. If, however, you will
allow me to make a suggestion, strictly, of
course, sub rosa, I would advise you to go back to
the ship and bring some fellow-passenger, who
can claim, in my presence, say about ten pounds
of it ; he must take it away with him though,
and if he is not honest, he might stick to it,
as you could not say that it was not his.'

* Oh, I can soon settle that,' said Acton.
' I will be back in ten minutes and bring him
with me.'

He went aboard again and found Green, who
had come over in charge of two hundred head
of cattle, and who, as soon as he found what'
was wanted, went with him to the Customs and
claimed ten pounds of the tobacco. Acton pre-
sented the Custom-house officer with a pound
of it, much to that individual's delight.

. Meanwhile Reginald Miller was busy^getting
the horses boxed, no easy task, as some of them
objected strongly. Independent would not have

HARK FORRARD! 97

it at all, at any price, for a long time ; ulti-
mately, however, he was blindfolded, and pushed
bodily in.

' Now then let us telegraph to Purlby ; he is
expecting to hear every day, and I should think
Mark Whitwell & Co. sent him a wire yesterday
when we passed the Lizard.

After lunching on board, and bidding adieu
to the officers, engineers, &c., they got into the
horse-boxes and started for Bristol, en route for
Brewtown, where they arrived at 8.30 in
the evening. Purlby and one of the helpers
were there to meet them, the former in a state
of intense excitement.

' Well, how are the hounds ? ' said Reginald.
' I got your letter about poor Caroline ; that was
a bad business.'

' It was indeed, sir, but I have saved five
of the pups, and they are all as like old Marquis
as can be. We have got a rare lot this time,
and as to the entry, I don't think we have ever
had such a lot.'

H

98 HARK FORRARDI

* Is most of the corn in ? '

' Very near all, sir. In fact, we can begin
cubbing as soon as you like.'

' Horses all right ? '

^AU except old Lockington, sir; he may
carry Jack through the season, but you must
not think of riding him. I have had him in the
river every day for the last six weeks.'

' Ah, I fear I settled him that day when we
had the clinking gallop from Ramsden Park.
The ground was like iron.'

'The firing shows very little, sir, now, though
you remember how deep Mr. Ault scored him
with the irons.'

By this time the horses were all unboxed,
and in a few minutes were saddled, and all was
ready for the start. Reginald rode Indepen-
dent and led the four-year-old. Acton rode
Vermont and led Warrenton, and Purlby and
the helper followed with the others. It was a
lovely moonlight night, and they both agreed
that it was much pleasanter to nde the fifteen
miles than to sleep at Brewtown and train home

HARK FORRARD/ 99

in the morning. They rode into the stable-yard
just as the clock struck twelve.

'Home once more,' said Heginald, as he
jumped off, ' and uncommonly glad I am to get
here.'

The sound of the horses' feet brought half a
dozen helpers out like rabbits with a ferret at
them.

' I have got the far boxes ready for them,
sir,' said Purlby ; ' they will just hold them.'

Having seen the travellers comfortably en-
sconced in their snug quarters, and having given
orders that ail their shoes should be taken off
first thing next morning, and that they should
be turned out in a field close to, with plenty of
grass, water, and shade, Reginald and Acton
started across the park for the house.

' Well, that is all right,' said the former ;
* they have landed all safe and sound at home.
But I wish with all my heart that we had never
started at all.'

' I don't,' said Acton ; ' if we never had gone

H 2

loo HARK FORRARDI

I should never have met the most glorious
creature in the world.'

' Now J my dear Alfred, don't mention that
subject. Once for all. please, remember that we
agreed to taboo it.'

' I know we did, and I won't mention it
again if I can possibly help it ; but when a
woman is always in your thoughts, it is very
hard to prevent speaking of her.'

' I manage to, at all events,' said Reginald.

' I grart that you do, but then you never
proposed to her ; you did not see half so much
of her the latter part of the passage as I
did.'

' For Heaven's sake let us talk of something
else,' said Reginald, now fairly out of temper.
By this time luckily they had almost reached the
house, and in another second Reginald was re-
ceiving the caresses of Lion and Brenda, his
two mastiffs, who, nearly mad with joy at their
master's return, were leaping up, and barking
and whining with delight.

^ Gently there, old man ; steady, old girl,' for-

'HARK FORRARD! loi

getting for the moment all else but the pleasure
of seeing his faithful dogs again.

Ay, ' faithful ; ' find if you can a word more
fitting, or that more exactly expresses what you
want. It would be a poor world without horses
and dogs ; but passionately fond as we are of
horses, and delightful companions as they are,
they are as friends much inferior to dogs. I
think they are as forgiving, but they have
nothing like the intelligence of dogs. Horses
are quite happy in the society of their equine
brethren ; but the dog alone, of all the brute
creation, yearns for the society of man. He was
created by Providence to be man's trusty friend
and companion. One thing is quite certain.
For our part we cannot imagine a future state
of perfect bliss unless in that state we have
horses and dogs, especially the latter ; however,
we shall all know all about it some day, and
goodness knows how soon it may be.

[02 HARK FORRARDi

CHAPTER VI

FIRST BLOOD

The next morning was spent by Reginald in
kennel, the greater part being occupied by a
critical inspection of the young entry, and after
grave deliberations he decided to have two or
three days' cubbing before h© drafted a single
one.

' I do not see why we should not begin
cubbing the day after to-morrow ; do you,
Purlby?^

^ No, sir, I don't. We had a lot of rain the
beginning of the week, all the corn is cut
about Foxton, and the General said he would
be very glad if we would go and rattle the cubs
about; they have got three litters there this
year, sir.'

HARK FORRARD! 103

' Very well ; then I will ride over this after-
noon and see if it suits them for us to come on
Saturday. Monday is the first of September.
By the bye, I must have a chat with Turner
about the birds.'

' Him and me is very big folks now, sir,'
said Purlby ; ' and he says it has been a capital
breeding season.'

* By the way, what do you think of the new
lot of horses ? '

' Well, sir, I think they are nice ones — nice
breedy 'osses I call them ; but you could have
got them in England just as good.'

' Certainly I could, but what should I have
had to pay for them here ? '

' Well, there's two or three that looks like a
hundred and fifty and two hundred apiece.'

* Ah, that is where the pull comes in ;
there is only one horse amongst the lot that I
gave as much as fifty pounds for. However,
I don't wish you to mention anything about
the price to anybody. I think that two of them
can win steeplechases, and I mean to have a

104 HARK FORRARD!

shot at the Grand National Hunt with the
bright bay horse I rode home last night.'

' They seem to be goodish doers, sir,' said
Purlby : ' they all ate up last night and this
morning. You should have seen them when I
turned them out ; they were all over the place.
Davis says he never saw such a good-footed lot
in his life.'

' Well, these American horses really are the
soundest lot I have ever seen. The roads there,
though, are very different to ours in England.
There are no hard roads to knock their legs to
pieces, and although very nice in summer, they
are almost impassable in the winter months
until covered with snow. McAdam was never
heard of out there.'

In the afternoon the two friends rode over
to Foxton, where General and Mrs. Going lived.

' Ah ! how are you. Miller ? How are you,
Acton ? Safe back from your wanderings, eh ?
I hope you have come to stay dinner; never
mind your clothes.'

' Well, General, we have come to ask if it is,

HARK FORRARD! 105

convenient for me to bring the hounds here
the day after to-morrow.'

' Pray do, my dear fellow. We have a lot of
cubs, and Charlie is very keen to have them
bustled about a bit — the Carr is chock full of
them.'

' I wonder what is the matter with Mr.
Miller,' said Mrs. Going to her spouse, after
Reginald and Acton had gone that night. ' He
seems ten years older ; he has lost his high
spirits entirely.'

' Yes, I noticed it,' said the General, ' but
he is as nice as ever. I wish there were more
like him.'

At half-past four on Saturday morning
Reginald was at kennels ready to start for
Foxton.

' Let them out,' said he, as he sat on his
horse close to the kennel-door. Out they
tumbled, one atop of the other, quite wild with
joy. Bonnybell came with a run and nearly
landed on to his thigh ; old Monarch could not
refrain from a deep wow, wow. There is

io6 HARK FORRARD!

nothing in the world much more delightful to
a sportsman who is really fond of it, than
trotting to the meet with his hounds all round
him. For one who studies them, there is a
wonderful lot of character in hounds ; some
want a lot of encouragement, others must be
gently chidden. The young hounds of an
inquiring turn of mind insist on investigating
the interior of every garden and house they
pass on the road, if they possibly can get away
unobserved ; others delight in rushing into the
midst of a lot of fowls, simply for mischief.
^ 'Ware wing, steady, there ! have a care ! ' and a
crack of the lash from the whipper-in brings
them back clustering all round your horse.
Ourselves, we believe in giving hounds a certain
amount of liberty on the way to the meet ; they
are all the better and steadier for it when they
get there.

An hour's trot brought them to Foxton,
where half a dozen of the neighbouring sports-
men met them. A move was at once made for

HARK FORRARD! 107

tlie Carr, and ere hounds had been five minutes
in covert, they found.

Yonder he goes across the ride. Too, Too,
Too ! Huic, Huic, Huic ! and in less than half a
minute hounds are across too, and running hard
in covert. All of a sudden, dead silence.

' They must have overrun it,' said Acton to
Miss Going, who was riding alongside him.

* What is that ? ' said she ; ' there he goes
back again about a hundred yards down.'

Acton promptly holloaed and Eeginald
emerged, Tally-.ho Buick, Tally-ho Buick,
Eleu Buick ! Crack, crack, crack went Purlby's
whip, and hounds were at him again. This time
he headed straight for the outside of the covert,
and breaking, set his head across the park, but
only for a hundred yards ; his heart then failed
him, and turning short back, he was met by
his enemies who were pouring out of covert,
just as he made for the fence. In much less
time than it takes to write, all was over, and
Reginald dismounting proceeded to divest him
of his brush and pads. Then came the blooding

jo8 HARK FORRARDI

of the young hounds. There is no doubt that
fox is to them quite as much an acquired taste
as are olives to us, and if a young hound could
speak, he would tell us that it was not because
he liked it that he ate it, but because it seemed
to be the proper thing to do, and also because
if he had not eaten it, other hounds would
have. Back again into covert they went, and
quickly found again. This cub was a bolder
young gentleman than his brother, and gallantly
breaking, gave them a pretty little spin of seven
minutes, being eventually run into on the bank
of the pool. Yet another cub paid the penalty,
and the sun now being high in the heavens,
and s6ent completely failing, home was the
word.

HARK FORRARD! 109

CHAPTER VII

CROSS-COUNTRY QUESTIONS

The next week was devoted to cub-hunting and
partridge-shooting. Three brace more cubs
were brought to hand, and capital bags were
made. Reginald had given orders that all the
new horses were to be shod ready for schooling
on the Monday, which day he had determined
to devote to their first lessons in jumping.
Independent, Vermont, and Warrenton were
already goodish fencers, but none of the others
knew their business as yet. There were several
nice fences where he always schooled his horses,
and these had been put into thorough repair.
As he always first lounged his young ones over,
there were rails running at right angles to the
fences for ten yards on the take-off side of each

lo HARK FORRARD!

fence. Taking the (lounging) rein himself, he led
each horse in turn up to the first fence, which
was nothing more than a very strong plain
hurdle laid flat on the ground. If the youngster
popped over it, all right. It was raised about a
foot from the ground, and so on, gradually
raised till that part of the education was con-
sidered complete. Supports on the landing
side prevented the hurdle from being knocked
down, however hard it was hit, as Reginald's
motto was to make a horse dread to take the
smallest liberty with any fence whatever. Some
of them were evidently natural jumpers, and
popped over as if they had been at it all their
lives. One or two, however, showed a lot of
temper, and the whips were brought into play
pretty freely. After the hurdle there was an
open ditch about six feet wide ; next was a low
thorn fence without any ditch, not more than
three feet high, but with a solid oak rail on the
landing side quite close to the fence and
almost flush with the top of it. Two or three
tried to take a liberty with this, and were

HARK FORRARD! in

consequently turned over ; they never, however,
repeated the performance, and it was quite
ludicrous to see how big they jumped the next
time.

' There,' said Keginald, after these three
fences had been more or less satisfactorily
negotiated ; ' now I will give myself a treat and
have a ride on Independent.'

In addition to the before-mentioned fences,
there were two or three fair flying fences with
ditches either on the take-off or landing side,
a biggish post-and-rail, and a double with just
room enough to pop in and out, the first fence
being lower than the second.

' I meant you to have put the big bridle
with the shifting port and long check on,' said
Reginald, as he got up. ' This horse catches
hold like blazes. Never mind changing it now,
but in future always put that bridle on him.'

Independent set his back up and squealed
as Reginald turned him round and set him
going at the first fence ; he jumped it beautifully,
however, and made no mistake whatever at any

112 HARK FORRARD!

of the fences, taking off yards in front, and
landing as many the other side of each fence.
Reginald steadied him a lot as he rode at the
double, but when within twenty yards of it the
horse caught fair hold, and raced at it as hard
as he could lay legs to ground. Reginald had
the sense to know that he could not possibly
stop him, and so trusting to Providence, he
simply sat still. Fast as he was going, the horse
just collected himself sufficiently, and taking
off exactly in the right place, he swung clear
over both fences, landing yards the other side.

' By Jove ! you are a clinker and no mistake,'
said Reginald, as he pulled him up and walked
back. ' What do you think of that, Purlby ? '

' Never seed a 'oss jump like it in my life,
sir, and such form as he gallops in too ; if he
ain't a steeplechase 'oss, I ain't seed one afore.
Talk about jumping like a rainbow ! And he's
away the quickest as ever I seed.'

' I think I will have Vermont out now ; the
bay horse, you know. Put a big fat plain
snaffle on him.'

HARK FORRARD! 113

Vermont, too, behaved to perfection with
the exception that he got a bit too near the
second fence of the double, and hit it so hard
that he landed on to his head. His good shoul-
ders, however, saved an actual fall, and they
picked themselves up again without parting
company. The next time he made no mistake.

' There,' said Reginald, ' I think that is a
pretty good morning's work.'

As he drove Acton to the station that
afternoon, the latter asked him what he pro-
posed to do with the horses.

' We will see how they shape, and if they
are as good as I think, I will sell some of
mine with the cub-hunters, and keep most of
these through the season. We must certainly
run Independent and Warrenton. When you
come back you had better pick two or three
and ride them through the season. We can
sell the lot at Warner, Sheppard, and Wade's
in the spring, or else summer them and sell
later on.'

' All right ; you will have made them all

114 HARK FORRARD!

by November, and I can't manage to come to
you till then.'

Time rolled on. The Mendale accounted
for twenty-three brace of cubs. The country
became fit to ride ; two or three early frosts
carpeted the roads with leaves and cleared the
ditches. Already they had had two or three
really fine gallops, and in one instance an old
dog had given them an eight-mile point and
saved his brush by getting to ground just
within the boundaries of the East Stamford
country. Keginald would have given a hun-
dred pounds to dig him, but that of course
could not be, as there is no breach of etiquette
so unpardonable as that.

The ' Bredford Mercury ' of Wednesday
the 27th contained the following, under the
heading ' Hunting Appointments ' : —

The Mendale hounds wUl meet as follows :

Monday, Nov. 1 . Westbury Wood

Tuesday . . . Blythbank

Thursday. . . Eadbrook

Saturday . . . Cream Cheese Hill

HARK FORRARD! 115

With what joy were the fixtures scanned by
the hunting' folk, and how one and all looked
forward to once more meeting the Mendale
hounds at the time-honoured fixture, Westbury.

Tis the first of November, the opening day ;

At Sudbury Coppice they've met :
There's a scent in the cover, the knowing ones say ;

There's a fox for a fiver, I'll bet.
But it's Tally-ho, forrard away —
His line is for Potter's I'll lay :

If you're game for a lark.

There are pales in the park
Take a good lot of jumping, they say.

And that is just what did happen. There was a
scent in the cover. In fact, as people rode to
the meet, they really felt that they might for
once venture to prophesy that there would be a
scent. Those who have hunted hounds, or ever
watched them carefully for some seasons, will
have noticed the difference in their behaviour
on a good or bad scenting day. On the former,
they dash into covert, as much as to say, ' There's
not a second to be lost ; ' on the latter they go
listlessly to work, as if they thought, ' Well, if

I 2

ii6 HARK FORRARD!

we do find we can't run him a yard.' In the
present instance, fortunately, the former was
the case, and though they had drawn three-
fourths of the covert before a sound was heard,
the crash of music which suddenly burst from the
pack proclaimed that they had not only found,
but that he had evidently been unkennelled in
view. He was within five yards of the covert
fence, on the outside of which was a deep ditch :
into this he jumped and made the best of his
way up it to the end of the covert, where he
broke and set his head straight for Foxley Gorse,
some two miles off". Hounds (as they always
do when they get their heads up) ran half
across the field from covert, and ere they could
be picked up and brought to the line the fox
had got at least half a mile start. Reginald,
who was hunting them himself, was riding
Independent, who was now his favourite horse.
No sooner did hounds cross his line than they set
to work to run like blazes, as though they were
tied to him. A bit of a fence, a grass field, and
then came the road. The gate was the most

HARK FORRARD! 117

negotiable place, and as Reginald knew he
could trust Independent at timber, he steadied
him, and he jumped it beautifully; out of the
lane through a hairy place where he lost his
cap, but the pace was much too good to stop for
it. Acton, who was a good horseman, followed
Reginald over the gate into the road, and out
again into the next field. Hounds were posi-
tively running away from them, and even those
who were galloping along a road parallel to
the line could hardly hold their own. Reginald
could just live with them, that was all ; the
flyers of the hunt were struggling along, doing
all they knew to keep on terms. Crash went the
fences right and left in his rear, and already
mother earth had received several salutations.
On they ran, and now Foxley Gorse was within
a field of them.

' Did you view him, Gadby ? ' yelled Regi-
nald, as he galloped past a farmer whom he
knew well.

' A's bin gone about a minute and a 'arf,
Mester Miller. It's a great big woindin' dog

Ii8 HARK FORRARD!

fox. A turned oop ter t' roight 'and when a
saad ma.'

Here came a momentary check, as hounds
carried it right up to the fence and threw their
heads up. Reginald, however, with one note of
his horn, quickly had them on the line again, and
they set to, to run as hard as ever. This slight
check, however, gave the first flight an oppor-
tunity to get on better terms. Into the road
raced hounds, and out again, and then swinging
sharp to the left, like a troop of cavalry wheeling
at the gallop, they headed straight for Foxley
Brook. Reginald knew that it was a nasty
rotten-banked one, and as he also knew of a
ford a couple of hundred yards to the right, and
hounds were heading that way, he galloped for
it. Here was a chance for the front rank to get
on still better terms, so sitting down and put-
ting on all steam, six of them charged it. One
got over, three got in, and two stopped on the
other side. On still went hounds, the field grow-
ing more and more select, and for ten minutes
more Reginald literally had hounds to himself.

HARK FORRARD! 119

' Tally-lio ! ' shouted a ploughman, whose
team bolted up the furrow best pace the mo-
ment that they heard hounds running the other
side of the fence.

' Do you view him ? ' said Eeginald.

' Yes, sir, a's joost gone across the adlant
(headland).'

One more big grass field, and as hounds
scramble through the next fence, up go their
heads. One or two of the fastest race away from
the body of the pack. The gallant quarry
hears them coming closer, closer ; now he half
turns and snaps viciously at the leading hound,
but ere he can crawl another yard he is no more.
As Reginald lands over the fence, he sees
them pull him down. At the same moment
Berkeley, one of the thrusters who safely nego-
tiated the brook, tumbled head over heels into
the field.

^You found he had plenty of pace, didn't
you ? ' said Acton, as the two friends rode home
that afternoon.

' Pace, my dear fellow ! he hardly went out

I20 HARK FORRARD!

of a good exercise gallop, and was pulling right
up to the finish.'

' I think he is too good to hunt,' said Acton ;
* there is no telling how good he is/

' Well, now, I don't agree with you there at
all. Surely, to be really brilliantly carried bang
to the tail of hounds in such a gallop as we had
to-day is as good as winning any steeplechase
in the world ; better, I think.'

' I can't go so far as that,' said Acton.
' Fond as I am of a gallop, I do like it between
the flags.'

^ That is just the difference between you
and me. I ride to hunt, and you hunt to ride.
Why, I can enjoy a run of three hours, even if
hounds don't go any faster than you can kick
your hat. That is, if I am hunting them myself.'

' Yes, I suppose you are right. I like
hounds, but suppose it is really only because
they furnish me with the excuse to gallop and
jump over other people's land and fences.
However, if there were no differences of opinion
there would be no fancy waistcoats.'

HARK FORRARD! 121

^ True for you,' answered Reginald. ' But,
joking apart, if you really are anxious that I
should keep this horse in lavender for a big
steeplechase, I will. He is as much yours as
mine.'

' My dear fellow, hunt him fairly bang
through the season, or at all events until the
first of March ; that will give him six weeks to
the Grand National Hunt, and I know you want
to win that with him. Besides, if you do break
him down or lame him, it can't be helped, and
we are neither of us paupers.'

^ All right, old man, I will ; but I will always
ride him first horse, and give him every chance.
He would not owe us anything if he cracked
to-morrow though, would he ? '

'No, by Jove ! What dufiers we were not
to pile it on ; we could have won another one
thousand dollars, easy.'

* A thousand ! Ah, more like five thousand.
They were beggars to gamble in Virginia,
weren't they ? '
. . Here a big sigh was simultaneously heaved

122 HARK FORRARD!

by eacli man, and not another word was uttered
by either until they rode into the kennel-yard.
We need not tell our readers the why and the
wherefore of this sudden cessation of conversa-
tion : the mere mention of Virginia, the home
of Miss Lancelot, was enough to throw a cloud
over them both.

' By the way,' said Acton, about two hours
later, when having tubbed and got into smoking-
suits, they were discussing tea and the papers
in the smoking-room, ' you shoot on Friday,
don't you ? '

' Yes ; I expect Turner will be here dir6^ctly
to see me about it.'

A very few minutes after, the butler
announced that Turner wished to see his
master.

' Tell him to come in,' said Eeginald.

' Well, Turner,' said he, as that worthy
entered the room, ' have you made all your
arrangements for Friday ? '

' Oi anna, sir, boy goy ! '

' Oh, how's that ? You haven't much time.

HARK FORRARD! 123

You will have to be about all Thursday. You
know there are generally a good lot of foot
people when we meet here.'

' Where shall you draw, sir ? '

* Oh, the Beech Wood, of course. There is
little fear of his running through any of the
coverts we shall shoot, and if he does the stuff
will all be back again in two hours. But how
is it that you haven't made your arrange-
ments ? '

'Well, we're so nation short o' beaters.
That theer hartis' chap as yer 'ad daown last
year, he shot 'um up so close oi dunna know
what for t' dew. A isna comin' thistoime, is a ? '

' No, no, of course not ; but I don't think it
was as bad as you say last year.'

' Ah, but it wor ; 'arf the beaters was pickin'
out shot corns for a thraa wik, to say nothink
abaout old Sambo. A landed 'I'm twoice. And
them asadidna sheoot, a welly skarred to death.
Bur if you're quoite seure as a isna coomin'
this toime, oi can appen get enooff.'

^ Gad, he's a rum one,' said Acton, as the

124 HARK FORRARD!

door closed on Turner's burly form. ' What a
splendid lingo lie talks too, doesn't he ? '

* Yes, I shall be awfully sorry when it dies
out, as I suppose it will in time. But you
should go up into the high country, amongst
the stone walls, to hear it to perfection. I was
staying in the neighbourhood at one time and
Turner's brother had a farm near, so I rode
over to see him. As I rode into the farm he
was standing by the gate. " Well, oi'll be
dalled," said he, throwing his cap down into the
dirt, and slapping his thigh — " well, oi'll be
dalled if it isn't Mester Reginald. Oh dear,
oh dear, bur oi am glad for t'saa yer. Are
yer oongry ? " Well, I had ridden fifteen miles,
and I can tell you that air gives one an
appetite, so I answered in the affirmative.
" Well, get off and coom in. What do yer
think a cock pheazand did t'other dee ? Whoy,
a ackshally flew into moy wife's bedreoom,
beggar his owd legs on 'im. So oi sent word to
t' squoire and axed what I mun' dew wa 'im,
and a sends me an answer back as oi mun kaap

HARK FORRARD! 125

'im ; so oi very seoon puts him under a croost,
fer oi thowt as 'ow theer moight baa soome
back orders, and if you'll come inter t' ouse
wa'll mek that theer poy sit oop." '

' That is a first-rate story,' said Acton ; ' that
was just like Turner's brother.'

' Yes, wasn't it ? I heard him make a speech
at the Rostewell Agricultural Show, or the
" Kultchul " Show, as they call it. He was
eulogising the master of the " Low Torr "
hounds, the finest pack of harriers in England '
— in fact they are in the opinion of the
writer absolutely undefeated — 'and by Gad
their country is perfect. Well, he was crack-
ing up the master, who is a splendid fellow.
In the course of his speech he said, " What oi
say of Highfield " (of course, he pronounced it
" Oighfaald") " is, if a breks a geete a'll pey
for't. Oi av bur wun faut to foind wi Oigh-
faald— a braads 'is aounds so fast yer canna
catchum." Oh, by the way, did I ever tell
you what Turner, this man here, said to my
mother one day ? '

126 HARK FORRARD!

' I don't remember,' said Acton.

' She was complaining how few swarms of
bees she had one year, and was talking to
Mrs. Turner. Turner happened to overhear
her, and popping his head in at the door, he
said, " You'll hexcuse ma, mum, but oi can tell
yer the raason as you anna got mooch 'oney
this year. It's a thisuns ; yo saan theere's tew
many wopses about. They're alius on at the
baas." " What ? " said my mother, " can a wasp
beat a bee ? " " Can a wops baat a baa ? " said
Turner. " Whoy, 'oin saan a wops boite a baa
i' tew i' t' middle and floy aweey with t' teel end
on it, oi an, boy goy."

HARK FORRARD! 127

CHAPTER VIII

G.N.H. AND ANOTHER

Time, as per usual, especially in the hunting
season, rolled on a great deal too fast to please
our enthusiastic master of hounds. This year
more than ever he disliked the contemplation
of the fact that the season was on its last legs.
As long as he could hunt and shoot six days
out of the seven, and so divert his thoughts
from Lina Lancelot, he managed to get along
somehow. But he dreaded the time when he
should hang up his horn, and bid adieu to the
joys of the chase for so many months. ' Post
equitem sedet atra cura,' and in Reginald's
case it sat so far behind, was in fact so com-
pletely at the tail of affairs, when he was
hunting his beloved hounds, that for all he
cared it might have been miles behind.

128 HARK FORRARDI

Tired out with a real hard day in the
saddle, he slept sound, and though many a
time and oft he dreamt of his love, still he did
manage to keep her to a certain extent in the
background all through the hunting season.
He knew, however, too well that as soon as
that was over, and time began to hang heavy
on his hands — he knew that then his thoughts
would revert only too surely to her. Distrac-
tion of some sort he must have, and so he made
up his mind to go in heavily for racing — a dan-
gerous game enough for a poor man who would
go in recklessly for backing his horses ; but as in
this instance Reginald had a rent-roll of fifteen
thousand a year besides valuable collieries, and
was moreover no fool, he could afford to spend
a few thousands over that most fascinating of
sports. He had had for two or three years a
small string in training at Mollerton, and only
last year had been so fortunate as to own one ■
of the best two-year-olds in training. In fact
he had one colt in his stable, who, if he would
only put his best leg foremost in public would

HARK FORRARD! 12$

have been iiudoabtedly tlie champion two-year-
old of the year. On tlie occasion of his debut
at Epsom he won the Woodcote Stakes in a
common canter, and in consequence started a
red-hot favourite for the New Stakes at Ascot.
He did as well as horse could do in the interim,
and the race was booked a foregone conclusion
for him. But after three parts of the journey
was traversed he cut it most unmistakably
and refused to gallop, and was beaten by his
own stable companion who was started to make
running for him and who finished third.
Reginald thought he might be amiss, and tried
him again at home the follo\ving week. The
result confirmed the previous trial so thoroughly
that Reginald and his trainer felt certain
the colt must be amiss. They pulled him out
again for the Ham Stakes at Goodwood, which
race was won by his stable companion, who met
one or two of the penalised flyers and run-
ning very gamely just struggled home a short
head to the good after a desperate finish. The
favourite was again nowhere. Another trial at

130 HARK FORRARD!

home convinced his connections that he was
an arrant rogue, and after giving him one more
chance in the Gimcrack Stakes at York with
the same result, Reginald was so sick of him
that he told his trainer to sell him.

Now, there are always a lot of clever people
connected with the Turf, who think they can do
more with a horse than those in whose hands
the horse may happen to be, and this was no
exception to the rule. A couple of bookmakers
who did not bear the best of reputations, but
who were remarkably shrewd men and who
were acquainted with Reginald's trainer, offered
a price for the horse, and he was immediately
transferred to their stable, about six miles off.
Meanwhile Reginald's other two-year-old kept
gradually improving, and was quoted all
through the winter months at twenty-five to
one for the Derby.

Independent had been in regular training
since the first of March, and both Reginald and
Acton thought that he would run a very good
horse in the Grand National Hunt. The meet-

HARK FORRARD! 131

ing this year was held at Bredford, which made
Reginald more than ever anxious to win, as all
the sporting farmers, &c., who hunted with the
Mendale had pinned their faith to Independent,
especially as ' t' squoire were goin' to roide
hisself,' as they put it.

It so happened that the Mendaleshire
Yeomanry were out for their annual training
that very week, and that their inspection was
held on the racecourse the day before the
National Hunt Meeting. Reginald commanded
the Radbrook troop, and a veiy fine lot of
yeomen they were : they all belonged to the
estate, and, as Reginald was very keen, he had
the smartest troop in the regiment. The
various troops used to march from their several
districts, and the regiment assembled in a large
field three miles outside Bredford, whence they
marched to the racecourse. Bredford always
turned out en masse to see the ' calvary,' as they
called them, march through. The small boys,
of course, used to chaff the sturdy yeomen

K 2

132 HARK FORRARDI

unmercifully, and invariably called tliem the
buttermilk soldiers. Tlie quartermaster of
Reginald's troop was an enormously fat man,
and on this occasion the lads were as usual
shouting out, ' Leuk at th' buttermilk soldiers,
leuk yer at th' buttermilk soldiers,' when one
smart lad, espying the quartermaster, shouted
out, '- Boy goy, lads, 'ere's t' churn hisself.'
Roars of laughter followed this sally, and the
name, as may be imagined, stuck to the un-
fortunate quartermaster ever after.

Davis the blacksmith was the troop farrier,
and though an excellent farrier, he did not
shine as a cavalry soldier : in fact he was never
quite sure which way to turn when the command
was ' Fours right,' or ' left,' as the case might
be. On one occasion Reginald remonstrated
with him quietly, after he had invariably
wheeled his horse to the left when the word
was ' Fours right,' and vice versa. ' Well,
squoire,' said he, leaning confidentially forward
in his saddle, and respectfully saluting with his
hand, as though he were on foot, ' it's loike

HARK FORRARD! 133

this, yer see. It didna coom duown to t'
trainin' last year, and a's forgot it ! '

A week's steady work, however, used to do
wonders, not only for Farrier Davis, but for the
whole regiment, and on this occasion the Rad-
brook troop again won the prize as the smartest
troop. They had particularly distinguished
themselves in pursuing practice, and all they
now wanted was for ' t' squoire ' to win the
' Grand Natural,' as some of them called it.
Many of them who had never dreamt before of
such a thing asbetting, had dipped deep into the
stocking, and meant to put the money down in
earnest on the morrow. Certain it was that, if
Independent did not win, it would bother some
of the Eadbrook tenants to find the where-
withal at the ensuing rent-day, which was now
drawing very near.

Reginald Miller had tried Independent with
a really good horse that had just won a big
race, and he felt very sanguine indeed of success.
Several horses came with great reputations, as,
indeed, from the conditions of the race was but

134 HARK FORRARD!

natural. In two or three instances powerful
stables were represented, and a horse called
Tittlebat, from Captain Mitchell's stable, was,
reported to be able to smother fche Grand
National winner at a stone. Reports of phe-
nomenal trials were rife, and if half what was
said of several of the competitors was true,
•the race was all over bar the proverbial all
right, ' Onme ignotum pro magnifico,' and as
many of the runners had never won twenty-
sovereigns over a country, the above quotation
was in this instance particularly applicable.

On arriving on the course Reginald found
that Tittlebat was established a firm favourite.
The prestige of the stable which had turned
out no less than three ' Grand National ' winners
in five years, coupled with the reports of his trial,
amply sufficed to place him at the head of the
poll. Then the Olive Hill representative was
backed, and well backed, by his party, who pro-
fessed to fear nothing. Vittoria, a grand-looking
chestnut mare, hailing from Marton in the Mud
and trained by that excellent and successful

HARK FORRARD! 135

trainer Wheeler, was another stray tip. Inde-
pendent having been imported from America
was not thought so much of as he otherwise
would have been, for there is no doubt that we
do think we can lick the world at steeplechasing ;
and so we can too, but there is no earthly-
reason why we should not import from Ken-
tucky and Virginia horses that can show a bold
front both in the hunting field and between
the flags. Reginald, however, found that he
could get twelve fifties about his horse, and
this he was content to take.

It is needless to say that the Radbrook
tenants with their wives and daughters
were there to a man, and many were the
market carts that were drawn up on the oppo-
site side of the course close to the rails. Six-
teen horses faced the starter, who got them away
well at the second attempt. Reginald knew
that Independent could both stay and go fast,
so getting well away he jumped the first fence
alongside Tittlebat and Vittoria. He had
hardly landed, however, when Rattrap came

136 HARK FORRARD! '

sailing past him intent on fulfilling liis mission
of making running for his stable companion.
This he did to some tune, as before the first
mile had been covered he held a lead of twenty
lengths. Reginald sat still watching Tittlebat,
Vittoria, and two others which were all going
well. He had not seen the fracas which
occurred at the first fence, whereby some
half-dozen horses got inextricably mixed up
in consequence of the refusal of two of the
number.

This half-dozen, for any chance they now
possessed, might as well have remained in their
stable. Independent was going strong and
well, and pulling so hard that Reginald let him
out a little before another half-mile was tra-
versed. He had got within a couple of lengths
of Rattrap, Tittlebat and Vittoria were three or
four lengths behind him. All of a sudden, when
within two strides of a big fence with a yawn-
ing ditch on the landing side, Rattrap refused
and came round bang in front of Independent.
It was too late to do anything but trust to

HARK FORRARD! 137

Providence. Independent stopped as if he had
been shot for a second, and then tried to jump
the fence ; he got over, but landed short and fell,
A^iltoria and Tittlebat sailed over side by side,
and a couple more followed suit. Reginald was
up and away as soon as possible, but he felt that
his chance of victory was a forlorn one, as the
two leaders were now^ at least one hundred yards
to the good. He had too much sense, however, to
bustle his horse, who luckily did not seem a bit
the worse for his fall. Before he had gone two
fields he had passed all but the two leaders, but
found that he gained but little on them. On
they went, each jockey riding to orders, namely
to cut the other down, making the pace a fear-
ful cracker, and Eeginald felt that unless they
came to grief his chance of victory was indeed
remote. They raced at the last fence neck and
neck, but as they rose each horse swerved from
distress. They collided and fell neck and heels
into the next field. Reginald now crammed on
all speed. Just as he rose at the fence, the
rider of Tittlebat, who had remounted, set his

138 HARK FORRARD!

horse going, but Reginald had too much way
on for him, and landing a length behind him,
he shot past him, and won amidst great cheer-
ing by two lengths, with a bit to spare. As
Reginald turned round to ride back to the
paddock, he found himself surrounded by his
tenants, who fairly mobbed both horse and man,
and who signified their intention of carrying
him on their shoulders, and it was as much as
Purlby could do to prevent them from lifting
their master bodily out of the saddle. In fact
it was not till Reginald Miller explained to his
fat quartermaster that he would be disqualified
unless he rode the horse right up to the weigh-
ing-room and there dismounted, that he pre-
vailed upon them to desist. As may be ima-
gined great excitement reigned in the paddock,
and on all sides you heard such remarks as,
'Thundering hard lines for Mitchell — his horse
would have come clean away on the flat ; ' ' Not
he — Vittoria would have buried him for pace
at the finish.'

^ Well,' piped an excitable little book-

HARK FORRARD! 139

maker who had laid all the others and kept
Tittlebat to run for him, 'I'll back Tittlebat
to lose Independent at any distance from two
miles to six.'

' You will have an opportunity of doing so
to-morrow,' said Reginald, who was at that
moment passing from the weighing to the
dressing room. ' They will meet to-morrow in
the Hunters' Race, and my horse puts up a
penalty.'

' I will bet you a level monkey he beats
yours, sir — best of one, two, three.'

' Done ! ' said Reginald. ' We will give
each other a run of course. My present inten-
tion is to run my horse. It is just possible,
however, that Tittlebat may be none the better
for his fall.'

' Of course, sir,' responded the bookmaker.
' Both to start — best of one, two, three, for five
hundred pounds. Now look here, sir,' said he,
taking Reginald on one side, ' I know all about
this Tittlebat ; I backed him for the Captain.
He is not well enough to be here, but I shall

,I4P HARK FORRARD!

send him a long telegram in ciplier, and I have
no doubt I shall have instructions to back him
for all I can get on to-morrow. Take my ad-
vice, sir, and don't back your horse against
him.'

' I am very much obliged to you,' said
Reginald, ' very much, but I believe my horse
to be a real good one. I am not sorry, however,
that to-morrow's race is three miles instead of
four, as I have the penalty to put up.'

' That is in your favour, certainly, sir.'

' By the way,' said Acton, as they drove
home to Radbrook that evening, ' did it occur
to you at all that Eattrap was pulled round on
purpose to baulk your horse ? '

'- No,' said Reginald, ' it never for a moment
occurred to me ! '

' You are such an unsuspicious chap, you
don't believe there is such a thing as roping in
the world ; but I feel quite positive in my own
mind that that horse was pulled round on
purpose. Besides, Wadding never even at-
tempted to set him going again ; he just turned

HARK FORRARD! 141

ronud and trotted back home through the gates.
He has been suspended twice, mind you, in his
time, and has sailed uncommon close to the
wind sev^eral times.'

' At all events I will be on the look-out to-
morrow. But I think I shall wait on Tittlebat.'

' Little Spratt has a tremendous opinion of
him. I told you what he said after he laid you
the monkey.'

' Yes ! Can you spare me half the bet ? '

' Of course.'

' Right.'

As they drove through the park, they over-
took Pari by, leading Independent, who kept
breaking into an amble and shaking his head,
as fresh as a daisy after his gallop.

' None the worse, evidently, Purlby,' said
Reginald as they passed.

' All the better, sir ; he will run a better
horse to-morrow if you don't let that there
Rattrap knock you over again.'

' Purlby evidently thinks as you do, old
man,' said he to Acton.

142 HARK FORRARD.

* Want to back your liorse, sir ? ' said
Charlie Herbert, one of tbe largest bookmakers
in the Midlands, to Eeginald as he crossed
the paddock the next day.

' What is his price ? ' he said.
' Five to one, sir.'

* What's favourite ? '

' Tittlebat, sir ; two to one.'

* That's a short price surely,' said Reginald.
' It is, sir, but Mr. Spratt seems to have an

unlimited commission to back him. I laid him
four hundred, and he has backed him with
everyone in the ring. And then you see the
horse comes from the Captain's stable, and he
don't make mistakes.'

' You are quite right there,' said Eeginald,
' but from what I could see Vittoria jumped as
quick and went as fast yesterday. Besides, in
a race with conditions such as these are, we
none of us can know anything about the oppo-
sition. It is not like a handicap, in which a lot
of well-known horses are engaged.'

* That's true, sir, and I must say that I

HARK FORRARD! 143

don't see why he should be any better favourite
than Vittoria or your horse either ; he made up
a good bit of his ground before the others fell.'

' Do you know how many runners there
are, Mr. Herbert ? '

' Ten, I think, sir.'

' Does Rattrap run ? '

^ I should think he is sure to, on purpose to
cut you down again, especially as you have a
penalty up. Wadding was very much dis-
gusted at the horse's refusing yesterday, says
that he never in all his life knew him to do so
before, and says he will gallop and jump till
further orders all by himself at home ; and de-
clares that, though Tittlebat is the best at four
miles, there is very little to choose between
them at three.'

'Thanks, Mr. Herbert; you may put me
down five hundred.'

' Very well, sir. I think it will be a great
race between you and the other two, bar acci-
dents, though I should back you without your
penalty.'

i44 HARK FORRARD!

Eeginald now felt quite sure tliat Rattrap
had been stopped the day before, and deter-
mined not to be caught again.

The betting grew fast and furious at last ;
Tittlebat still headed the poll, and there was
but little to choose between Independent and
Vittoria. The ten runners got away to a
capital start, Rattrap at once going to the front.
Independent seemed to make very light of his
penalty, and pulled harder than Reginald had
ever known him before. In fact it was all he
could do to steady him at his first two or three
fences. Do what he wo aid he had to lie second,
and he saw that Tittlebat and Vittoria intended
to repeat yesterday's tactics and w^atch each
other. Reginald, however, was very wary, and
watched Rattrap most carefully. When some
eight or ten lengths from the third fence, he
saw Wadding look over his shoulder for an in-
stant and then set his horse going at the fence,
it flashed through Reginald's mind at once
that he looked- to see if he was near enough,
and finding that he was not, deferred liis little

HARK FORRARD! 145

game 'pro tern. He repeated the same tactics
at the next fence, and when halfway across
the next field, he pulled Kattrap back along-
side Independent.

' My horse can't go any faster,' said he to
Reginald. ' How are you going ? '

^ All right,' was all Reginald vouchsafed,
but he was all on the qui vive, and feeling
quite sure that Wadding was up to some hanky-
panky tricks, it suddenly flashed across him
that he meant to jostle him ; so when about sixty
yards from the next fence he shook Independent
up, and just touched him with the spur. The
horse shot out and raced at the next fence as
hard as he could, landing a tremendous distance
into the next field. Just as he settled into his
stride again, he heard an almighty crash, and
head over heels came Rattrap and his rider.
Wadding had simply bustled the horse clean off"
his legs in the hope of catching and upsetting
Reginald, for that was his little game. Reginald
now took a strong pull at his horse ; he was
just at the bottom of the hill, and was five or

L

146 HARK FORRARD !

six lengths in front of Tittlebat and Yittoria. It
was quite time to take a pull too, as tlie first
mile and a lialf of the journey had been run at a
capital pace. Tittlebat and Vittoria, by the time
the top of the hill was reached, had got on terms
with Independent, and they all cleared the fence
abreast. Reginald by this time felt quite sure
that he could go as fast as or a bit faster than
either of them, and taking a pull he let them
lead him three lengths for the rest of the journey
until two fields from home, when he gradually
began to get on terms. They all three rose at'
the last fence together, and of the three Vittoria
was a shade the quickest away. Then ensued
a terrific race. Reginald was on the right-hand
side of the course, having come up outside the
other two at the last fence ; on they came neck
and neck, the jockeys of Tittlebat and Vittoria
both at work with their whips, Reginald riding
his horse all he knew with his hands. Three
strides from the winning-post he picked up his
whip and hit him once. Independent answered
as game as a pebble, and got his head in front.

HARK FORRARD! 14^

Tittlebat and Vittoria ran a dead beat. Thus
ended one of the grandest steeplechases that
had ever been witnessed. The papers next day
were full of the masterly way in which Eeginald
had timed his finish.

' I am afraid Wadding is very badly hurt,'
said Acton to Reginald, as he rode into the
paddock. ' They say he has concussion of the
brain and two ribs broken. They are going to
take him to the Infirmary. Serve the beggar
right, though, if it had killed him. I saw his
little game through my glasses as plain as a
pikestaflf.'

' Come, come, Alfred, we can afford to be
generous now. Whatever he may have intended
the poor chap has come off badly enough in all
conscience, if he is as bad as you say.'

' Right you are ; precious few fellows are like
you, though. What a ripping race you rode !
You can lick your old master now. Do you
remember when I began to teach you on little
Dandy, the chestnut pony ? You were always ^.
capital hand at getting away, but you always

L 2

148 HARK FORRARD!

would come too soon, and you used to have
your flail at work before half the journey was
over.'

' Yes. What a wonderful pony that little
beggar was ! I have ridden him twenty quarter-
mile heats in a day, and he was always game to
have another go.'

HARK FORRARD 149

CHAPTER IX

COMING EVENTS CAST THEIR SHADOWS BEFORE

Next day Reginald drove into Bredford to in-
quire how Wadding was, and was told that he
had recovered consciousness early that morning
and had particularly expressed a wish to see
him, but that if he would kindly call again on
the following day they hoped that the patient
would be in a fit state to converse.

' What do you think of his case ? ' queried
Reginald.

' We don't know what his internal injuries
are ; he seems to be in a great deal of pain at
present, independently of his broken ribs. As
far as the concussion is concerned I think he
will be all right ; he is an abstemious man, and
naturally in excellent condition.'

On the following day Reginald again called

I50 HARK FORRARD!

at the Infirmary, and was shown into the ward
where Wadding lay.

' It is very kind of you to come to see me,
Mr. Miller. I want to tell yon something, for
if I am to die I shall die the happier if I con-
fess something ; I pulled Rattrap round on the
first day, and I meant to do so again the
day before yesterday, but found you were too
fly for me, so I meant to knock you over at
that fence I fell at. Can you forgive me,

sir .'■

' Of course I can, and will,' said Reginald,
taking his hand ; ' but I sincerely hope this will
be a lesson to you for the future. You might
have been killed yourself, and if you had killed
me, well, to say the least of it, you would not
have been a very happy man in the future.'

' That's just it, sir ! I never saw it in that
light ; thought it was all right. But this has
opened my eyes. Think that I might have been
a murderer.'

' Let us thank God it is no worse. I am
quite sure you mean what you say. Now you

HARK FORRARD! 151

must not talk any more ; as soon as you are fit
to be removed you shall come to Radbrook and
be nursed. Now not a word,' as he saw
Wadding about to say something, ' not a single
syllable shall you utter. I will be over again
in a day or two to see how you get on — till
then, good-bye.'

As the door closed on him Wadding fairly
broke down and cried like a child. ' Well,'
said he, as he gradually calmed himself down,
' if that ain't what the sky pilot at home used
to call heaping coals of fire on a man's head,
I don't know what is.'

Alfred Acton went up to town by the night
train the evening of Independent's second
victory, and on arrival at his chambers in the
Albany found several letters, amongst them
one with the Auburn postmark on it. Letting
the others wait, he opened his sister's, for she
was his correspondent. We, who are privileged,
beg to inform the reader that had she or he
been in our position, the said she or he would
have quite lost patience ere their curiosity was

152 HARK FORRARD!

satisfied. First he read it once, then he said,
' Bless my soul ! ' then he raced madly up and
down the room, then he read it again, then he
threw himself into the recesses of his biggest
arm-chair, from which after more ' Bless my
souls ! ' he emerged, only to read the letter a
third time. However, we won't keep the reader
anything like as long in suspense as he kept
us, but will proceed to give the letter in extenso.
It was as follows : —

* Auburn : Thursday, April 10.
' Dearest Alfred, — I always told you what
idiots you men were where woman was con-
cerned, and I really think you get worse and
worse year by year, or is it that we get cleverer
and see your inanities more plainly ? Anyhow,
you and Mr. Miller have made the most lovely
mess of it that I ever saw. So there ! [What
the deuce have we done now ?] You remember
that you told me that you proposed to Miss
Lancelot the night you landed at New York,
and that she refused you, and you also told ma

HARK FORRARD! 153

that Mr. Miller had not the faintest shadow of
a chance in that quarter, or. to use your own
words, had not a thousand-to-one chance. Now,
my dearest Alfred, I am, as I was when you
told me, awfully sorry that she refused ijou^ as
I have never seen a woman that I would have
so loved to call sister, but it seems to me that
as you can't get her for yourself, the next best
thing will be that you should help Mr. Miller
to get her, for marry her he can, I am quite
positive. I told you one day when we were
driving together ' out here, that I believed she
was in love with him, and since you went home
I have proved it. We have seen a great deal
of both Mrs. and Miss Lancelot since you were
here, and last week they came to stay here for
a few days. I noticed that if ever Mr. Miller's
name was mentioned she became perfectly
crimson ; I also caught her drawing him from
the big photograph that he sent Ray directly
he got home — I mean the one in hunting things.
Mrs. Lancelot tells me that Lina has never been
the same girl since she came back from Europe,

154 HARK FORRARD!

and she is very much distressed. Lina has
become frightfully absent — in fact, though here
in the flesh, she is in the spirit wherever Mr.
Miller may happen to be. Now, dear old Alfred,
manage the whole affair ; just try for once in
your life if you can't do something clever. 1
know your heart is good enough and big
enough, and 1 am also quite sure that the fact
of having been refused by Miss Lancelot your-
self will not make you do one whit less towards
the accomplishment of my pet scheme. In fact,
make Miss Lancelot marry Reginald Miller.
Ray and the children send love. The latter
told me Lina Lancelot was always talking
about Mr. Miller when she was by herself with
them.

'Ever your affectionate sister,

' Mary.

' By the way, Mrs. Lancelot says that she
thinks of sailing for England very soon.'

' Of course I'll do all I can to get her
married to Reginald,' said Acton, when at last

HARK FORRARD! 155

he did find liis tongue, whicli was not till the
conclusion of the various evolutions aforesaid.
' Of course I will, but how am I to set about it ?
— that's what beats me. If Mrs. Lancelot will
only come home and bring Miss Lancelot with
her, it will be easy enough, but how the deuce
I am to do it unless she does, I don't know.
Happy thought ! I'll send Mary a wire.' This
he did as follows : ' Wire immediately you
know name of ship and day of sailing.' ^ Send
that telegram first thing to-morrow morning,
please ; ' this to the servant who answered the
bell. ' Let me see,' soliloquised he, ' Reginald
comes up on Monday, and I go down to New-
market with him to the Guineas. I shall have
lots of opportunities to discuss the matter with
him.'

Monday came, and with it Reginald Miller.
The two friends dined together at the club, and
after Independent and his victories and all their
surroundings had been talked to death, Alfred
Acton tried to broach the subject which ever
since the night of his sister's letter had been

156 HARK FORRARD!

nearest his heart. If he had rehearsed it once
he had done so one thousand times, and now
that the moment had actually arrived he found
it almost impossible to come up to the starting-
post. Over and over again he tried to join his
horses, but each time he let Reginald start
some topic of conversation. At last it became
so patent to Reginald that there was something
on Alfred Acton's mind, that he said, ' Well,
what is it ? You have been hanging about one
tiny little bit of gorse for at least an hour, and
seem frightened to draw it. Now blaze away ;
you want to say something. I sha'n't eat you,
dear boy, and, as you know, there is but one
topic on which we have agreed to maintain a
discreet silence.'

This was Acton's cue. ' Yes, I know that,
but what I want to talk about now is the very
subject that, as you say, we agreed to taboo.
It is of Miss Lancelot I want to speak, and,
what's more, I must and will, once for all. If
you tell me to shut up for ever after you have
heard what I have got to tell you, I promise

HARK FORRARD! t57

you tlie subject shall never again pass my lips ;
but I mean to bave my innings tbis time, and
I'll bet a hundred you will thank me from the
bottom of your heart before we have done.
First and foremost, read that.'

Then he handed Mrs. Danby's letter to
Reginald, who read it once, twice, three times,
but never a word said he till he had quite
finished, and then, as he handed it back to
Alfred Acton, he said, 'Impossible! too good
to be true ; your sister must be mistaken.'

' That I swear she is not' said Acton. ' I
never yet knew Mary make half a mistake in a
case of this sort ; and besides, it is all as plain as
a pikestaff tome now. When I proposed to her
and she refused me, I had the cheek to ask her
if her heart was her own, and she told me it
wasn't, and I now feel sure the reason it wasn't
her own was because you had got it.'

' Well, but how can that be ? ' said Reginald.
' You remember how jolly you and she and I
were the first three or four days of the pas-

158 HARK FORRARD!

' Of course I do ; and then, somehow, the
latter half of it you and she seemed to drift
apart, and didn't appear to be half such pals
towards the finish.'

' That's true enough ; she was always mak-
ing some confounded excuse or another to get
away if she and I happened to be alone together.
She was all right if you and I were both there,
but directly we were left alone she either
wanted to find those blessed children, or the
captain, or somebody. So I naturally thought
she did not mean to have anything to say to
me ; but by Gad, Alfred, I will tell you now I
loved her before we had been two days on
board, and I love her now, and I shall never be
happy till I get her.'

/ A la Pears' soap, eh ? However, as that
is an absolute impossibility for me, I mean to do
the next best thing, and get her for you. I
have quite made up my mind that it is far
better to have her for a pal than never to see
her again.'

' That is just the difference between you

HARK FORRARDI I59

and nie,' said Reginald. ' I will be either abso-
lutely first, or nowhere. Now look here, Alfred,
I am off to Virginia again on chance.'

' Don't do that, my lad ; didn't you read
Mary's postscript ? '

' Yes, I did, of course ; but she says Mrs.
Lancelot is thinking of sailing for England
very soon. That isn't good enough for me.'

'Well, hang it all, wait for a few days
till I have had time for an answer to my
telegram.'

' What telegram ? '

' I telegraphed to my sister, asking her to
wire the name of the ship by which they sail
and the date of her departure.'

' All right, then, I will wait a few days.
But I w^on't wait long — I can't.'

' You won't have to wait long, I am quite
sure of that. My sister would never have written
as she has unless she had been quite certain of
her ground. She knows that Lina Lancelot is
yours, and she is quite sure that she and her
mother are on the eve of their departure for

i6o HARK FORRARD!

England. Promise me at all events that you
will wait one week before you start for
America.'

* All right, I will promise you ; but I swear
that I will not wait one single hour longer.'

They went to Newmarket on Tuesday, and
Reginald Miller had the satisfaction there of
seeing a horse of his win the Trial Plate.
His three-year-old, which had been quoted all
through the winter at twenty-five to one for
the Derby, was not entered for the Two Thou-
sand, and it was just as well that he wasn't, as
his trainer, who met him in the Birdcage, told
him that the horse had on the previous day met
with a nasty accident. As his boy was walk-
ing him home after he had done his work, a
thunderstorm broke, and a terrific flash of light-
ning so terrified the horse that he bolted when
within two hundred yards of his stable, slipped
up on turning into the yard at full gallop, and
cut himself about badly.

^It will take us all our time to get him
ready for the Derby, sir, I fear,' said the trainer.

HARK FORRARD! i6i

' and however well lie goes on, he won't be fit to
go out of a walk for a fortnight.'

Reginald Miller went down to Yorkshire
next day, and found that his Derby horse was
decidedly the worse for his accident, as, though
tendons, ligaments, ei hoc genus omne were
all right, the horse was terribly bruised and
knocked about. There was no reason, however,
that he should not be able to go along in a
week or ten days. Though this contretemps of
course militated considerably against his chance
of winning the Derby, still he would at all
events be able to face the starter.

How Reginald Miller existed during the
next week was a mystery to himself. Each
day seemed a year, the only redeeming feature
being that each morning when he woke the
first thought that sped through his brain was,
' One day nearer.'

After a fair passage the ' Carolina ' dropped
her anchor in the Mersey on the twelfth of May.
Reginald, who had made arrangements with the
Cunard Company, was apprised of the fact

M

i62 HARK FORRARD!

at the earliest possible opportunity. Mrs.
Lancelot and her daughter came up to town
that night, and took up their residence at the
Buckingham Palace Hotel, where they had
ordered rooms before they left America. The
very next day after they reached London,
Keginald and Acton called upon them, and
arrangements were made to go down the
following day to Richmond, have an hour or
two on the river, dine at the Star and Garter,
and drive home. Some friends of the Lancelots'
who had been fellow-passengers with them from
New York were invited also. At one o'clock
the party started in a couple of carriages which
had been hired for the occasion, and an hour's
drive landed them at the doors of the Richmond
Club, which is charmingly situated close to the
river just above the bridge, and has delightful
grounds sloping down to the river. Reginald
was a member of this club, and here he
entertained the whole party at luncheon.
After a cup of cafi noir and a cigar, they
started to row up as far as Teddington Lock.

HARK FORRARD! 163

' Will you entrust yourself to my pilotage,
Miss Lancelot ? ' said he.

Now, if Acton or either of the other men had
made her the same offer, she would most pro-
bably have cheerfully accepted, but, goodness
knows why it was, yet it is an undoubted fact
that she did not by any means jump at his offer.
Her mother, however, opportunely came to the
rescue and said, ' Well, my dear Lina, as you
have but little faith in Mr. Miller as an
oarsman I shall be only too delighted to avail
myself of his kind offer, that is, if he will
condescend to row an old woman up the river.'

'That, indeed, I shall be charmed to do,'
said he ; and as a matter of fact he spoke the
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the
truth, as he there and then made up his mind
to enlist Mrs. Lancelot's good offices on his
side.

Suffice it to say that ere they had reached
Teddington Lock, Reginald had laid bare his
heart to her, and in return had gained her con-
sent to his trying his luck with her daughter ;

M 2

i64 HARK FORRARD!

and, said she, ' I don't wish to buoy you up
with false hopes, but I am sure that Lina has
lost her heart to some one, and as she has been
a different girl ever since the day she landed
at New York on her return from England, she
either lost it in England, or on board the
" Scythia " on the way back. However, you row
her back to Richmond, and by the time you get
there, you will at all events know the worst.
Thank you for a delightful row, Mr. Miller,' as
he handed her out of the boat at Teddington.
As a matter of fact, Reginald Miller was a real
good man in a boat, as he had been a Wet Bob
at Eton, and had stroked the eight there.

^ Well, Lina,' said her mother, as they were
about to start on their return journey, 'you
need have no fears as to Mr. Miller's rowing
capabilities, and I should strongly advise you
to let him row you home.'

' Perhaps he won't have me this time,' said
she, ' as I didn't jump at his offer the first
time.'

' I shall be delighted to row you back, Miss

HARK FORRARD! 165

Lancelot,' said he, ' and as your mother gives
me such a good character, I really think you
will not be afraid to trust yourself to my care.'
Now, the author has always been told
that it is easier to row with the stream than
against it. He begs, however, to inform his
readers, male and female, gentle and stern, that
this is altogether an erroneous idea. Were it
not so, pray how could Reginald Miller row Mrs.
Lancelot up against the stream in 45 minutes
and yet take an hour and a half to row down
again to Richmond with the stream ? In future,
therefore, please understand that it has been
proved by a man who has stroked the Eton
eight that it is far easier to row against the
stream than with it. (This correspondence
must now cease. — Editor of ' Hark Forrard.')

On arrival at the Star and Garter, Lina
made straight for her mother's room, and the
first peep at her face convinced Mrs. Lancelot
that all was well.

' Now, you need not tell me a word about it,
my dear,' said she, as Lina came and threw her

i66 HARK FORRARD!

arms round her. ^ I know exactly what you are
going to say. Mr. Miller has proposed to you,
and you have said yes.'

^ Yes, mother dear, that is true, and I am so
happy. Fancy, if you hadn't brought me home,
I might never have seen him again, and I
believe I should have died, for I do love him
so.'

' My darling, do you think that I was so
blind as not to see it all the time ? That, and
that alone, was my reason for bringing you
home.'

After a capital dinner at the Star and
Garter, the carriages came round, and in addi-
tion a hansom appeared on the scene. The
result of ten seconds' confab between Eeginald
Miller and his intended mother-in-law was
that he handed Lina Lancelot into the hansom,
and jumped in himself.

* Which way will you go, sir ? ' said the
cabman.

' Anyway you like,' said he, and the author
really believes that Reginald would have liked

HARK FORRARD! 167

to go round by Glasgow and Edinburgh,
any way in fact that would take the longest
possible time. The cabman, however, decided
to drop down to Barnes, crossing the railway
at the level crossing, then to Hammersmith,
and over the bridge. In the midst of the
tenderest of love passages, Reginald awoke to
the fact that the horse was all over the place.
They were within a hundred yards of the level
crossing — a train was rapidly approaching.
Reginald opened the trap at the top of the cab
and told the cabman to stop the horse ; he then
jumped out and got to his head. The train
came rattling past and the horse plunged badly,
but Reginald held on to him, and after a minute
or two the horse began to settle down. As
Reginald got in, he cautioned the driver to be
very careful and walk all the way rather than
chance an accident.

' I never knowed him carry on like that
afore, sir,' said the cabman. ' I don't know
whatever is the matter with him.'

As those of our readers who have ever been

x68 HARK FORRARDI '

there are aware, after crossing tlie railway, you
turn sharp to the right, and have about a mile
of perfectly level good road, with a footway kerb-
stone and a high wall on the left-hand side. They
had not gone a hundred yards before Reginald
felt quite sure that the horse meant to get away
if he could, as he kept making plunges to be off.
' All right, sir,' said the cabby ; ' I've got
him.' But he hadn't, and hardly were the words
out of his mouth before the horse gave one
terrific plunge and bolted, heading for the
fence on the right-hand side of the road. The
driver just saved an upset by pulling the near
rein hard, and as it was, the box of the off wheel
grazed a lamp-post. In another couple oi
minutes the horse was galloping madly along
the flagged footway, and the near wheel going
g-r-r-r-r-r, against the wall. Cabby at last got
him into the middle of the road, and then two
hundred yards in front of them was the Inn.
This was the terminus of the road, at right
angles was the village, and at right angles to
the left was the Hammersmith bridge. It now

HARK FORRARD! 169

became a question whether the driver could
steer the horse at the breakneck pace at which
he was going round the turn to the left. This,
however, was safely accomplished.

Meanwhile, Eeginald, though fully recog-
nising the perilous position in which they were,
kept as cool as a cucumber, and told Lina to
sit perfectly still, and not speak. This the
brave girl did. As they got on to Hammersmith
Bridge, the driver looked through the hole and
said, ' I'm done sir, I can't hold him any
longer.' Reginald jumped up, threw open the
doors, and standing on the front of the cab
between the doors and the dashboard, collared
the reins. 11^ just cleared a heavy waggon by
an inch, and then at the other end of the bridge
saw two gi-eat furniture vans, one apparently
coming and the other going, Reginald found
that though still running madly away, he could
steer the horse with the near rein ; his mouth
on the off side was perfectly dead.

As those who know Hammersmith Bridge are
aware, there is a parapet, then a footway, then

lyo HARK FORRARD !

another low parapet, at intervals in whicli are
the suspension pillars. Reginald at once made
up his mind that there was but one thing to
do, and that was to run the horse into one of
the suspension pillars, and chance the cab's
being overturned by the parapet. He there-
fore steered him for the pillar, and about five
yards off it, let his head go. The result was
that the horse, who of course was fro tern, abso-
lutely mad, charged wildly into the pillar and
broke his neck on the spot. The cab was
nearly, but not quite, turned over by the para-
pet, the cabby was chucked off on to his hands
and knees, and escaped with the loss of a bit of
skin and cut trousers. Reginald handed Lina
out.

' My brave darling,' said he, ' how splen-
didly you behaved ! '

' I knew I was safe with you,' was all she
said, with such a look of love in her eyes
that he with difficulty restrained himself from
throwing his arms round her on the spot.

Isn't it wonderful, though, how implicitly

HARK FORRARD! 171

women believe in the man they love ? They
invest him with the most wondrous powers,
with indomitable courage, with chivalry and
heroism unequalled ; and what humbugs a lot
of us are too, when all is said and done. Un-
fortunately, after matrimony, many a time and
oft, comes the rude awakening, and they find
out that we are not only mortal, but very
mortal at that, and poorish things after all.

As is always the case on these occasions, a
policeman was quickly on the spot, accom-
panied by three or four other foot passengers,
and after giving the policeman his card, and
telling the cabman to come and see him the
following morning, Reginald popped Lina's arm
into his, and walked to a cabstand a hundred
yards the other side of the bridge.

172 HARK FORRARD!

CHAPTER X

KPSOM AND BACK — ESPECIALLY BACK

Now that we have got Reginald Miller and his
future wife safely back to London, we can
imagine some of our readers saying, ' Bother
the man, he might have told us how Reginald
proposed to her, and what she said.' But as the
same old question has been asked many mil-
lions of times in every inhabited portion of the
globe, and has been so accurately and graphic-
ally described by so many abler pens than
ours, we have decided to leave each reader to
imagine it for her or himself. He has proposed
and he has been accepted, and how he did it
won't interest any of you one hundredth part as
much as it did them. So there !

Reginald continued to get the most satis-

HARK FORRARD! 173

factory accounts from his trainer as to Forti-
tude's well being, and in ten days from the
date of his accident he was able to begin slow
work again. The week before the Derby he
persuaded Mrs. Lancelot to come down to
Radbrook, as he was anxious to show Lina her
future home. Mother and daughter were both
charmed with the place, and all the neighbour-
ing families who came to call were most hearty
in their congratulations. Turner, the keeper,
whom of course Reginald made a point of
presenting to Lina, was fairly dumbfounded, and
stood with his mouth wide open for a long time.
When he did at last find his tongue, he said,
' Boy goy, mester, I alius wor boog o' Rad-
breuke, bur noaw, oh dear, oi'm th' boogest as
iver I wor.'

' What did he mean, Reggie ? ' said Lina
when they had left Turner. ' I couldn't under-
stand a word he said.'

' I am not surprised at that ; he talks the
most delicious broad Derbyshire that ever was
heard. He simply meant to say that he had

174 HARK FORRARD!

always been very proud of Radbrook, but tlie
fact of my being about to marry you made him
quite the proudest man in the world.'

On the Friday before the Derby, Reginald
went down to Mollerton to see Fortitude do a
gallop, and to insure a true run race the trainer
had a real good one with twenty-one pounds
the best of the weights, to bring him along
the first mile, and a very speedy one to finish
the last half-mile. As it happened, there is at
Mollerton a mile and a half more like the
Derby course than perhaps any other that
exists throughout the length and breadth of
England. Fortitude ran a good horse, but was
beaten a couple of lengths at the finish, as the
last two hundred yards up hill told against him.

' Just what I expected,' said the trainer. ^ If
we could only put the Derby off a fortnight, I
shouldn't fear any of them.'

' Yes,' said Reginald, ' he is short of half a
dozen gallops, no doubt ; but I have got Bow-
man to ride him, as Lord Liskeard's horse is
scratched.'

HARK FORRARD! 175

'■ I am glad to hear that, sir, very, and I
quite expect to see him run a good horse,
though it is too much to expect him to quite
win.'

' Doncaster is the course of all others that
I think suits this horse,' said Reginald, ' and if
we get beaten in the Derby, I will have a big try
to win the Leger.'

' Yes, sir, that is just his course, and if he
improves at the same rate he did last year, he
will be very bad to beat at Doncaster.'

A heavy thunderstorm on the Tuesday
night just laid the dust to perfection, and made
the road really in good order for the drive, and
Reginald, who was a member of the Coaching
Club, drove Mrs. Lancelot, Lin a, Acton, and
some other friends down to the Derby. There
were fifteen runners for the big race, and
Davenport was favourite, though Fortitude, de-
spite his having been stopped in his work,
looked so well and moved so beautifully in his
canter, that the best price to be got at the fall
of the flag was six to one. Bowman, who rode

176 HARK FORRARD!

him, waited handy till he got to the top of the
hill. Kounding Tattenham Corner, Bowman
shot bang up to the leaders, cutting in between
Falcon and the rails. (As all who knew him
are aware, he was a wonder round Tattenham
Corner, and has been known to come round it
best pace with his left leg over the rails.)
Down the hill they came a cracker, and Bow-
man really thought he was going to win, but at
the bell the condition told, and he was passed
by Destiny and Tudor, who ran a desperate race
home. Destiny winning by a head, Moonstone
beaten half a length for second place. Forti-
tude finished fourth, as directly he saw that he
could not possibly win. Bowman stopped riding,
knowing that Reginald had no place money on
the horse.

' Well, Bowman, I am not the least bit dis-
appointed,' said Reginald ; ' he has run quite as
well as could be expected under the circum-
stances.'

' I thought I was going to win, sir, till very
near home,' said Bowman ; ' but if you keep this

HARK FORRARD! 177

horse for the Leger, I am sure he will win if
he keeps well. I have not forgotten my ride
on him at Doncaster last year.'

' Well, he is in the Prince of Wales' Stakes
at Ascot on Tuesday week. I am half inclined
to run him there ? '

' Please yourself, sir. 1 should keep him for
the Leger and win a big stake. The extra two
furlongs is bound to tell on him in the Prince
of Wales' Stakes in his present condition, and
Tudor, who ran second to-day, is a better horse
over a flat course like Ascot than he is down
this hill from Tattenham Corner ; his shoulders
are a trifle heavy, and he is a little bit straight
in the pasterns. He would have won to-day if
he had come down the hill as well as Destiny
did.'

' Ah ! well, I shall let you know by Satur-
day whether I shall want you for Ascot. By
the way, will you come across to my coach, and
have a bit of luncheon ? '

' It must be a very little, then, sir, as I have

N

178 HARK FORRARD!

got to ride in the next race but one, and I can
only just do the weight.'

Reginald introduced Bowman to Lina
Lancelot, and she was charmed with his quiet,
gentlemanly manner. Amongst others who
had accepted Reginald's invitation to come
down in the coach was an old gentleman called
Draycot, who had been a very fine whip in
days gone by, and he expressed a great wish
to handle the ribbons on the return journey.
This he did, and despite the crush and crowd,
all went well until they got as far as Cheam.
Here part of a culvert had given way, and
it was consequently very narrow indeed. Mr.
Draycot had pulled the horses into a slow trot
in order to give the carriage in front time to
cross the culvert, when a two-wheeled shay
driven by a perfect specimen of the East End
ruffian, accompanied by five other kindred
spirits, each a perfect Bill Sikes, tried to cut
in on the wrong side. In less time than it
takes to write it, the near fore wheel sent them
flying. A similar kind of conveyance, in fact

HARK FORRARD! 179

a 'sister ship' freighted with an equally
charming cargo, narrowly escaped sharing the
same fate.

' Spring your leaders now,' shouted Reginald
as the occupants of the first trap picked them-
selves up, and, accompanied by their friends
in the other, rushed at the coach ; * gallop !
gallop ! ' But before Draycot could get steam
on, the roughs were on them, and had hold of
the leaders.

' Come on now,' said Reginald. ' We have
no time to lose.'

Down jumped everybody, and each singling
out his man, there was a free fight. Reginald
went straight for the biggest of the lot, who,
relinquishing his hold on the leader's head, put
up his hands, and led off with his left at
Reginald's head. Reginald simply ducked, and
before his adversary had time to recover himself
he put in both left and right, one, two, and
knocked him clean off his pins under the
leaders' feet. He had just time to steady him-
self when two hulking ruffians rushed him ; he

N 2

i8o HARK FORRARD!

landed one hard behind the ear, and he went
down like a stone ; he received a real crusher,
though, from the other man which very nearly
did for him, and so dazed him for the moment
that he was content to act on the defensive.
He found that his adversary was a foeman
worthy of his steel. After one or two rapid
exchanges, Reginald managed to counter his
opponent heavily on the right eye, though he
got a nasty one himself. He now tried the
effect of a body blow, but this was neatly
stopped, and had he not ducked his head well
to the right as he delivered it, he would
have got a terrible left-hander, which, however,
whistled harmlessly over his left shoulder. He
found his man, however, getting short of wind,
so feinting with his left, he sent in his right
like lightning, catching his foe just on the point
and knocking him clean off his legs into a deep
ditch overgrown with briers. Just as he did
this, a brute hit him from behind across the
back of the neck with a stick and knocked him
over. He was up, however, like lightning, and

HARK FORRARD! i8r

catching sight of his man, made for him ; he
caught him just as he was rounding the coach,
and after a short tussle, wrenched his stick out
of his hand ; he showed this man no mercy, and
belaboured him mth his own stick till he
knocked him completely out of time. Mean-
while, Acton, Charles Young, and the others
had accounted very fairly for their men, and
the gentlemen were absolutely the victors.
They had by no means, however, gained a
bloodless victory ; Sutlift's claret was flowing
freely. He was, however, ' sailor-like,' delighted
with the fun, and quite sorry when it was over.
' Now then, boys,' said Reginald, 'jump up
every one of you. I say,' said he, addressing
his third opponent, who had picked himself out
of the ditch and was mournfully rubbing his
shin, ' how much damage have we done your
cart ? Let's look at it.' On inspection, the con-
clusion arrived at was that a couple of sove-
reigns would set it all straight again.

' Well,' says Acton, ' here's a fiver ; two
pounds for the cart and three for drinks.' And

1 82 HARK FORRARD!

so saying, he handed it to the man who owned
the damaged cart.

* Three cheers for the swells ! ' shouted
he. This was most heartily responded to by
all the combatants, and harmony was quite
restored.

' Well,' said the man whom Eeginald had
knocked into the ditch, ' I have scrapped a
good bit in my time, and if I'd 'a' bin told as a
lily-fingered cove like you could 'it like a 'oss
kicking, I'd never 'a' believed it. No more
fighting with you swells from the clubs. Who
taught you, sir ? '

' Ned Donnelly is my master, and all I
know I owe to him.'

' Well, I know Mr. Donnelly, and next time
as I see him I shall tell him as he's turned out
one real good one at all events.'

The author is quite prepared to find that
many of the readers of this book are now
saying, ' Quite unnecessary ! Shocking bad
form to allow his hero, or indeed any characters
in the book, to fight in the presence of ladies.'

HARK FORRARD! 183

But if any reader will kindly tell liim the
alternative that presents itself to his or her
mental vision, the author will be only too glad
to cry ' Capevi,' as dear old Jorrocks says. As
everybody who has ever had to apply his mus-
cular Christianity in a similar way is aware, it
is absolutely necessary to hit hard, and that at
once, in a case of the sort under notice. The
East Ender, at no time a gentleman of much
blandishment, is on an occasion of this sort
a perfect demon, and nothing but an appeal
to his better , nature in the shape of a real
good hiding can possibly be successful. Had
Reginald Miller and his friends, ' who hap-
pened to be a particularly good lot,' been duffers,
goodness knows whether the coach would not
have been at Cheam at this moment. Certain
it is that the very smallest sign of hesitation
would have literally upset the apple-cart, and
therefore the author is convinced that this
was an occasion where the circumstances altered
the case ; and as all is well that ends well, and
nothing succeeds like success, and the winning

i84 HARK FORRARD/

horse gets patted in the paddock, he does not
consider that the smallest apology is due from,
him. Besides, this story is true, and ' Magna
est Veritas et prevalebit.'

On the following Saturday Eeginald re-
ceived a letter from his trainer, telling him
that Fortitude had been coughing since his
return from Epsom, and also was suffering
from cracked heels. This quite decided
Eeginald not to run the horse at Ascot, but
to keep him for the Leger, for which race
he backed him at TattersalFs, on the Monday
after the Derby, in thousands, at eight to one.

Wadding, who got so knocked about in
the Grand National Hunters' Steeplechase,
had now been staying at Radbrook for the
last three weeks, and had become very much
enamoured of Turner's daughter, a comely
Mendaleshire lass of nineteen summers. He
asked Turner if he would allow him to pay
his addresses to her; but Turner, who had
heard rumours that Reginald's fall in the big
race the first day was due to Wadding pulling

HARK FORRARDl 185

Rattrap round in front of liim, refused point
blank, until, as he said, ' he knowed wevver
it were t' treuth or wevver it worn a ; and
boy goy, young feller,' said he, ' if it is
trew as yer troied fer ter knock t' squoire
hovver, I shanna gi yer t' gal, bur oi'll gi
yer what for or else t' squire'll know, I'll
gallantee, and it's 'im as oi shall ex fust toime
as a cooms ter Radbreuk.'

Wadding and the fair Phoebe Turner were
bothered to death to know what to do for
the best, but woman's wit as usual came to
the rescue, and she suggested that he should
go up to Portland Place, see Reginald, and
make a clean breast of it to him.

'I daren't do it,' said Wadding — 'he has
been too kind to me already ; remember, I
might have killed him. Thank God I didn't
though, and I'd lay down my life to save him
to-morrow ; ' and he meant it too.

' Jack, dear, we shall never get father's
consent unless you do go and see the squire,'
said Phoebe ; ' but if he will only tell father

i86 HARK FORRARD!

that he would like us to be married, it won't
matter what anyone in the world says. Father
thinks a good deal of the Queen, but he thinks
a very deal more of the squire.'

' Well, Phoebe, my love, I'll go then,' said
Wadding. ' I'll start first train to-morrow
morning.'

' Quite right, Jack, and I'll ask Mrs. Pratt,
the housekeeper, what time the train leaves
Bredford; she knows all about us, and she
won't tell father.'

At five o'clock the following morning
Wadding jumped into a milk-cart belonging
to one of the tenants, reached Bredford in
plenty of time to catch the 6.18 train to
London, and landed at St. Pancras at 9.45.
Twenty minutes saw him at Reginald's town-
house in Portland Place, and after at least
ten minutes' funking, he at last summoned up
sufficient courage to ring the bell. To put it
into words, he would far sooner have ridden
the shortest shouldered, most uneducated brute
in the world at six feet of stiff timber than

HARK FORRARDl 187

face Reginald Miller under the present
circumstances. The door was opened by-
Reginald himself, who was just off to Tatter-
sail's to attend the sale of his own horses.
His boots not being sufficiently capacious
to permit of his sinking into them, Wadding
had to stammer out something that was really-
incoherent.

^ For the life of me I don't know what
you want,' said Reginald, ' but if you will
jump into the hansom with me we can chat
on the way to Tattersall's. Well, what is
it ? ' said he, as the cab turned out of Portland
Place. ' I hope you have not come up to
London to tell me that you are just about
all right again. Though if you have come
to tell me, I am sure it is the truth, as you
are looking wonderfully well again.'

^ No, sir, it isn't that, though I can never
thank you for your great kindness, but I want
to ask you a great favour.'

' What is it ? I will do anything I can for
you.'

i88 HARK FORRARDl

' Well, sir, the truth is, I want to be
married to your head keeper's daughter.'

'What, Phoebe?'

'Yes, sir.'

' Well, my good fellow, Turner is my keeper
certainly, but I have nothing whatever to do
with his daughter's matrimonial arrangements.'
' She says that it all depends on you, sir,
whether we ever get married or not. I asked
Mr. Turner if he would let me marry her, and he
said that he had heard it said in the village
that I had pulled Eattrap round on purpose to
baulk your horse in the Grand National Hunt
Eace, and if he believes that I did, there is no
chance for me as long as he lives. And Phoebe
has made me come to London, because she says
that if you will be so kind as to say that you
would like us to be married, it won't matter
what anybody else says.'

' All right, Wadding. I am coming down to
Eadbrook on Wednesday, as I want to see the
three foals that were dropped last week, and T
will put in a good word for you.'

HARK FORRARDl 1S9

' Oh, sir ! I can never be grateful enough
to you. I quite deserve never to marry Phoebe,
but I don't know what I shall do if I couldn't

marry her.'

'I can quite sympathise with you,' said
Reginald, ' and I am sure that it would make
all the difference in the world. Now come and
look at the horses ; they are in the eighteen-stall
stable. You will have time to look them through,
and then you can go back in my cab, and have
dinner with Saunders at Portland Place. I
suppose you mean to go back to Eadbrook tOr

night.'

' Yes, sir, I promised Phoebe that I would
let her know, but she was quite certain that you
would help us. All that she was afraid of was
that you might be away.'

After a look through the horses. Wadding
went back to Portland Place, dined with the
butler, and caught the three o'clock train from
St. Pancras to Bredford. He had arranged for a
lift back again from the station in the same
milk-cart, and on arrival at the top of Silver-

190 HARK FORRARDl

dale Hill, not more than half a mile from the
lodge where Turner lived, who should he see
walking towards Bredford but Phoebe Turner ?
Thanking his charioteer for the lift, he dis-
mounted from the cart, and the cart had hardly
got round the corner before his arms were
round her, and he proceeded to indulge in most
unmistakable osculation.

Phoebe, on this occasion at all events, was
not a sleeping partner, and as soon as she
found her tongue after the cessation of hostili-
ties (and a very good sort of hostility too) she
said, ' Eh, Jack, you needn't tell me — I know
you have seen the squire and he has promised
to help us.'

' That he has,' said Wadding ; and then he
had to tell and retell, word for word, all that
passed, and how he was looking, and whether
London was really such a big place, and whether
it was really much bigger than Bredford.

' And I expect you saw ever such a lot of
beautiful ladies, Jack,' said she, with a half-
jealous glance at her lover.

HARK FORRARDl 191

' I did that,' says he, ' but ne'er a one half
as good-looking as my Phoebe gal,' and this
he emphasised with an encore of the old hos-
tilities.

The author has read in books, or else he has
heard somebody say, that as regards this par-
ticular kind of engagement, it is invariably a
case of ' L'appetit vient en mangeant.' Of
course his informants may be wrong, but, as
dear old Uncle Remus says, ' I reckon we'll hab
ter let it go at dat.'

192 HARK FORRARDl

CHAPTEE XI

'MORE matrimony'

On Wednesday, Eeginald came down, and
after a chat with Turner about the young
partridges which were just hatching out, said,
' By the way, Turner, you will be losing Phoebe
soon ; she has grown into a very fine young
woman.'

' Boy goy, squoire, naow that's the
curiousest thing as iver oi saad, as yen should
begin fer ter talk about moy gal, fer oi meant
fer ter ax yer mysen this very dee. Yer known
that theer jockey chap as they say knocked
your 'oss over i' the Grand Natural 'Unt race.
Well ! a 'as axed fer ter wed 'er, beggar 'is legs
on 'im, and oi said as I'd be dalled if he should
do hanythink er the sort onless oi wur quoite
seure as a 'adna done it a purpose.'

HARK FORRARD! 193

'I'm very glad indeed that you have mentioned
this to me,' said Reginald, ' and I sincerely hope
that yon will allow them to make a match of it.'

' 'Ere, Phoebe,' shouted Turner ; ' koom
'ere ! ' Pha^be emerged from the house, blush-
ing crimson. ' Yeu can wed that chap if you've
a moind ; squoire say as it's aw roight.' Phoebe
dropped a low curtsey and disappeared again
into the house. ' Yeu'll hexcuse ma, bur oi dew
'ope as yer wunna let the big weddin' hinterfere
wi' the shootin' ! '

'No,' said, Reginald, laughing heartily;
' you may make yourself quite easy on that
score. The wedding will be the first week in
August, and we shall come back here the first
week in September, so as to go to Doncaster
for the Leger from here.'

On his way back from the paddocks with
Purlby in the evening, Reginald met the
newly engaged couple, and congratulated them.

' We owe it all to you, sir,' said Wadding.
Phoebe said nothing, but like the Irishman's
parrot, she probably thought a deuce of a lot.

o

194 HARK FORRARD!

The Grand Prix had cleared the way of one of
the most dangerous opponents to Fortitude for
the Leger, as Tudor, who ran second for the
Derby, though he managed to win in the last
stride, broke down so badly that all chance of
his facing the starter at Doncaster had disap-
peared. Reginald Miller had had a bad meeting
at Ascot, as he got second in the Hunt Cup,
second in the Fern Hill, and though his repre-
sentative ran a dead heat in the St. James's
Palace Stakes, he was beaten in the run off.
However, he had Lina Lancelot to console him,
and besides that, he didn't really much care
what happened to the rest of his string as long
as Fortitude kept well. Wadding, whose father
had a large farm close to Mollerton, where
Fortitude was trained, kept Reggie Miller con-
stantly informed as to the horse's well-being.

Mrs. Lancelot and Lina were naturally fully
occupied with the cares of trousseaux, and
Reggie Miller had great difficulty in persuad-
ing them to come down to Hurlingham with
him on the days when he played polo there.

HARK FORRARD! 195

Acton, Reggie Miller, and the two ladies
formed many a pleasant 'pariie carree at dinner,
and Acton, who had accepted the position of
best man, had quite come to acquiesce in the
inevitable.

At length arrived the wedding day, and a
very beautiful day it was ; all, as all should,
went merry as a marriage bell, and after the
knot had been tied and the breakfast was over
the newly wedded pair left for Scotland, where
Reggie Miller had a shooting.

o 2

196 HARK FORRARD!

CHAPTER XII

THE LEGER

After they had been a fortnight in Scotland,
Reggie received one morning a letter from
Wadding, in which the writer said that he
could not but think that there was something
odd about Fortitude's position in the betting
market. Here is an extract from his letter :

' The horse does as well as possible, and
everybody says that he's the most improved
horse they ever saw, and yet he gets no better
favourite ; the more he is backed the more
money there is to lay. I will try to find out
all about it ; I have an idea, but of course I
can't say anything till I am sure.'

This letter set Reggie Miller thinking, and
he at once wrote to his trainer, asking him if

HARK FORRARD! 197

he could at all account for the horse being so
systematically peppered as he seemed to be.
Tryall, the trainer, wrote saying that he could
in no way account for it. ' I can only suppose,'
he said, ' tliat they think they know something.
All I can tell you is this, that the horse cannot
lose the Leger except by some extraordinary
accident. I have trained for thirty years, and
never have I fancied any horse for any big race
as I fancy this horse for the Leger. If you are
the least anxious I hope you will come and see
him do a gallop/

On August 28 Reggie Miller and his wife
started for Radbrook via Mollerton, and Forti-
tude was put through the mill with the most
satisfactory results.

' By the way, Tryall,' said Reggie to his
trainer after the gallop, ' I see that they are back-
ing this horse Decimal that we sold last back end.'

'Yes, sir, and if he has mended his ways of
course he may beat us ; but rogues don't turn
honest with age — at least, I have never found
them do so.'

198 HARK FORRARD!

' No, nor I ; but if the beggar were to take
it into his head to go bang into his bridle at
the finish he would be a very hard nut to
crack.'

' I wonder Wadding didn't come over to
Mollerton,' said Reggie Miller to his wife as
they drove away after luncheon. ' I made sure
that we should find him there.'

On arrival at home that night Reggie found
a letter from Wadding, saying that he hoped
to be at Radbrook on the following day, and
that he had something particular to tell him.

' Well, Wadding,' said Reggie, as Wadding
was shown into the smoking-room by the
butler, ' how's Phoebe, and when are you two
going to get married ? '

' I've got something much more important
than that, sir, to talk about now,' said Wad-
ding.

' It must be important then indeed,' said
Reggie Miller.

' It's about Fortitude, sir, that I want to
talk. You know, sir, my brother's head lad

HARK FORRARD! 199

with Fielder, who trains for Fielder and Layitt,
the men who bought your horse Decimal last
year.'

' Yes,' said Reggie Miller ; ' I didn't know
it before, but get on.'

' Well, sir, for the last two or three weeks,
whenever I have seen him he has always
seemed very serious, and especially since
Phoebe has been up to stay wdth father and
mother, and he has got to know her, and knows
that she is the daughter of the head keeper,
and that you are the owner of Fortitude.'

'Well, what does he say?' said Reggie
Miller, whose curiosity, to say the least of it,
was now fairly roused.

' He says nothing, sir, except that Decimal
is very well and can't lose. And the other
day, when I told him that you sold the horse
because he cut it so many times, he said he
would bet all he ever expected to own in the
world that Decimal beat Fortitude wherever
they finished.'

' What does it mean ? '

20O HARK FORRARD!

' I don't know, sir, but I do wish you would
see Bowman and have a conversation with him
about it.'

' Certainly I will ; there is no time to
lose. The race is next week, and I have
backed this horse to win me more money
than a little. But why do you want me to
see Bowman ? '

' Because he and I are very great friends,
and we are neither of us satisfied about this
business. We had a talk about it at York the
other day. I suppose you have every confi-
dence in Mr. Tryall ? '

' Certainly I have,' said Reginald Miller.

' I don't think Bowman has, sir.'

'Don't you? Why?'

' He will tell you all about it, sir, if you ask
him ; he hasn't told me, but I am sure from
what he said that he isn't at all satisfied with
the way things are going.'

' I will make a point of seeing Bowman at
once,' said Reginald Miller ; ' in fact, I will
write to him this minute.'

HARK FORRARD! 201

' I should send him a wire, sir, if I were
you. He rides at Richmond to-day and to-
morrow, and he can easily come here to-morrow
night on his way back to London.'

* A capital idea,' said Reginald Miller.

He accordingly telegraphed to Bowman as
follows : ' Wish see you particularly. Come
here to-morrow evening.' To this telegram
he received a reply during the afternoon,
saying that Bowman would be with him at
nine o'clock the following evening. At the
appointed time the following evening Bowman
arrived, having driven over from Bredford in
a hansom. He was at once show^n into the
smoking-room, where Reginald Miller was
anxiously awaiting him.

' How do you do., Bowman ? I am sorry to
bring you out of the way, especially so late, but
I am most anxious to have a chat with you
about the Leger.'

' I am very glad you have sent for me, sir,
I assure you,' said Bowman, ' as 1 too am very
anxious ; in fact, I don't like the look of things

202 HARK FORRARD!

at all. Have you seen to-day's Standard,
sir ? '

' No, I haven't, but I expect it is much the
same as the Telegraph as to what it says.'

' Listen to this, sir,' said Bowman, produc-
ing from his pocket a copy of the Standard of
that day. ^ Betting at Tattersall's, midnight.
There was a great muster at the rooms this
evening, most of the leading pencillers being
in town, and the Leger day being so close at
hand the wagering was very considerable.
Fortitude, despite the fact that he has done as
well as his admirers could possibly wish ever
since he finished fourth in the Derby — in addi-
tion to which two of those who finished in front
of him have succumbed to the exigencies of
training, and the third evidently does not on
this occasion carry the unbounded confidence
of his owner — did not go as well in the betting
as he should. Somebody or somebodies evi-
dently think they know something, as in one
quarter at least backers are invariably accommo-
dated.' Bowman stood for some minutes buried

HARK FORRARD! 203

in thought. At last he spoke. 'Mr. Tryall
has trained for you ever since you started
racing, and has always given you great satis-
faction, has he not ? '

' That he certainly has.'

' It makes it all the harder, then, for me to
tell you what I think.'

' Out with it, Bowman ; you either know, or
think that you know, something very serious
about the horse^ or the trainer, or both.'

' Well, sir, I know that he once did sell an
owner. I rode the horse too. I was only a
young un at the game then, and I didn't
understand the signs as well in those days as
I should now, but I thought even then that
all was not square. I found it all out, though,
afterwards.'

' Good gracious. Bowman, this is a very
serious charge.'

' I can't help it, sir ; it's true.'

' How do you mean ? '

' I mean that he stopped Pandemonium for
the City and Suburban. You remember, I

204 HARK FORRARD!

dare say, what a hot favourite he was for a
whole fortnight before the race. It nearly
ruined his owner too.'

• Yes, of course, I remember now.'
' That horse was stopped in the stable, sir.'
' The devil he was ! and you mean to say
that you are not sure that the same game is
not being played at this moment.'

' That's it, sir, and I will tell you why. You
know Fielder and Lajdtt, the men who bought
Decimal from you last autumn. Well, they
train close to, and Fielder's brother trains his
horses. He and Tryall, who trains for you, have
been in at one or two queer things together, I
fancy. At all events. Fielder and Layitt are
the two bookmakers who never leave off laying-
Fortitude.'

' What would you do if you were in my
place. Bowman ? '

' I have been thinking it all over in the
train, sir, on my way from Richmond, and I
have come to the conclusion that the best thing
to do is this. For you to get up on Wednesday

HARK FORRARD! 205

morning, see the horse do his work, go back to
the stable with him, and never leave him again
until I am on his back and on my way to the
post.'

' Certainly I will do so,' said Keginald ; ' but
Tryall will think it a queerish business, won't
he?' ^

' If Tryall is straight he will only put it
down to great anxiety about the horse, and if
he is crooked it seems to me that it does not
matter the least bit in the world what he
thinks/

' Very well, Bowman, I will do it. Now come
and have some supper, and by the time you
have finished you ought to be starting for the
station again.'

Supper over, and having got behind one of
Reginald Miller's big cigars. Bowman got into
his hansom and drove back to Bredford.

' We will meet on the course on Wednes-
day morning, then,' said Reginald, as Bowman
drove away.

Wednesday morning dawned, and a lovely

2o6 HARK FORRARD!

autumn morning it was too. Fortitude, with
Bowman up, had a couple of canters, and came
in for a lot of admiration ; in fact, the touts
unhesitatingly pronounced him to be the pick
of the basket.

' There,' said Mr. Tryall, as the horse pulled
up after his canter, ' you will come sound to the
post at all events.'

Reginald Miller had taken the precaution to
put some sandwiches in his pocket, also a flask,
and on the way from the town moor to the
stables he indulged in a glass of rum and milk.

' Now, sir,' said Mr. Tryall, after the horse's
toilet had been completed, ' if you've no objec-
tion I will lock him up now, and leave him
quiet till it is time for him to start for the
course this afternoon.'

' Now look here, Tryall, I am so intensely
anxious about this race that I don't mean to
leave the horse till Bowman gets on his back.'
Tryall's face alone was enough to make Regi-
nald feel quite sure that what he proposed to do
was absolutely necessary.

' Do you doubt me, sir ? ' stammered Tryall ;

HARK FORRARD! 207

and tlioiigh he strove hard to affect injured
innocence, still his anxiety and trepidation
were far too apparent to leave room for the
slioflitest doubt as to the truth of Bowman's
suspicions.

' Surely you can have no objection to my
remaining with my own horse. It is a hobby
of mine.'

' A hobby that will probably lose you the
race, sir. He will fret and not touch his feed. He
is a very queer horse in that way, and he will not
touch a mouthful if anybody is looking on, or
is, in fact, anywhere near him. Besides, he is
wound right up to concert pitch, and a little
thing upsets a horse when he is trained to the
minute as this horse is ; in fact, he is looking
very tucked up as it is this morning.'

' Considering the poor beggar has probably
had hardly a mouthful since this time yesterday,
I am not surprised,' thought Reginald Miller,
but though he thought it, he of course did not
say it, as he was anxious if possible to arrange
things quietly. What he did say was this :

' Well, I can't help it, Tryall ; I have made

2o8 HARK FORRARD!

up iny mind not to leave the horse till he starts
for the Leger. Besides, I will stop in the next
box, and I am quite sure that won't prevent
his feeding.'

' Either you trust the horse entirely to me,
sir, or I wash my hands of the whole concern.'

This Try all said, feeling perfectly certain
that Eeginald Miller, who had hitherto impli-
citly trusted him, would most certainly cede his
poiut. Great, then, was his astonishment when
he received as his answer the following : " All
right ; your very anxiety for my departure only
makes me the more determined to stay. There
is something wrong somewhere, or the horse
would be a very much better favourite, and I am
determined that I will leave no stone unturned
to insure his success.'

Try all was fairly dumbfounded for a
moment, and when he did find his tongue he
took refuge in the most frightful abuse and
vituperation. He was a passionate man, and
lost his temper completely.

' Come,' said Reginald Miller, ' out you

HARK FORRARD! 209

go. Make out your account at once, and under-
stand that hencefortli you are no longer trainer
of mine. Do you mean to go quietly, or must
I kick you out ? '

Tryall saw that unless he took his departure
the action would be suited to the word. He
accordingly went off, muttering, and vowing
vengeance. Reginald Miller then beckoned to
the boy, who had been hovering in the distance,
and told him to bring the horse's food and
water. There was no doubt about it. Tryall 's
game was to ' stop the horse in the stable,' as it
is called, by keeping him on terribly short
commons, and now that the poor brute was
absolutely ravenous, to let him gorge himself
with both food, water, and bedding till he
couldn't beat a donkey. After a few minutes'
confab with Bowman it was decided, as there
were more than eight hours to the race, to give
him a bucket of water and a full feed now, and
later on another very light feed and a few
swallows of water. Meanwhile the discomfited
Mr. Tryall at once proceeded to the quarters of

2 TO HARK FORRARD!

Messrs. Fielder and Lavitt, and his first words
to them pretty well explained the game that
was intended to be played.

' Somebody's rounded,' said he, as he entered
the sitting-room where the two worthies were
poring over their books.

' The devil ! ' said they, simultaneously
springing up from their seats.

" They have, though ; at all events the owner,
whom I always thought I could twist round
my little finger, has turned rusty and swears
he won't leave the box till the horse starts for
the course. I have kept him very short ever
since yesterday morning, and in a very short
time from now he would liave been stuffed like
a bolster.'

' But w^ho can have rounded ? Nobody knew
but ourselves.'

' Well, I always told you that you were
both taking much too great liberties with the
horse. It was bound to set people talking, and I
believe it is Bowman that has put him up to it.'

' Oh dear, oh dear,' said Layitt ; ' this is
awful.'

HARK FORRARD! 211

' But if Decimal only runs up to his trials he
cannot lose,' said his confrere.

' Ah ! ' said Tryall, ' if the horse had only run
up to his trials, do you think that you two
would ever have owned a hair in his tail ? Why,
he could always give Fortitude 7 lbs. at home,
and in public the other horse could lose him.'

' But he has completely altered now ; didn't
we try him with seven others in the gallop, and
colours up and everything to make a race of it,
and didn't he carry 10 lbs. more than any of
the lads knew anything about ? '

' Yes, I know all that, but then he was at
home, and he knew it ; at all events, I mean to
get out all I can — in fact, I shall back Fortitude
for every bit that I can get on, and I strongly
recommend you to do the same.'

The result of this conversation was that by
the time the numbers went up for the first race
Fortitude had come with a rattle to 6 to 4, and
as the afternoon wore on he became a better
and better favourite, until at the fall of the flag
5 to 4 on was the best procurable price. As
to the race itself, it needs little or no descrip-

212 HARK FORRARD!

tion. At tlie Eed House two only were in it —
Fortitude and Decimal — and at the distance
Decimal really looked like beating his quondam
stable companion, at whom Bowman was nig-
gling a bit ; fifty yards farther on he sat down
to ride in earnest. The very first crack of the
whip had its effect on both horses, Fortitude
answering like the game un that he was, and
Decimal beginning to stick his toes in and refus-
ing to try a yard for the rest of the journey.
Fortitude won very comfortably indeed, a rank
outsider getting up in the last stride and
wresting second place from Decimal by the
shortest head. The win was immensely popular
with the public, who had backed the horse
steadily since the breakdown of Tudor in the
Grand Prix, in addition to which it had leaked
out that there had been a serious split in the
camp within a very few hours of the race.
Keginald Miller won a very large stake ;
Bowman added another to his already long list
of victories, and was, it is needless to say, amply
remunerated.

Spottiswoode & Co. Printers, New-street Square, London.

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