Part 29 (1/2)

After a brisk ride of nearly two hours along cross-roads, we came out upon a wild heath or common of considerable extent.

”Here's a famous place for a gallop,” exclaimed Oaklands; ”I never can make up my mind which is the fastest of these two horses; let's have a race and try their speed. Do you see that tall poplar tree which seems poking its top into the sky on the other side the common? that shall be the winning-post. Now, are you ready?”

”All right, go ahead,” replied I, bending forward and giving my horse the rein. Away we went merrily, the high-couraged animals bounding beneath us, and the fresh air whistling round our ears as we seemed to cut our way through it. For some time we kept side by side. The horse Oaklands rode was, if anything, a finer, certainly a more powerful animal than the one on which I was mounted; but this advantage was fully compensated by the fact of his riding nearly a stone heavier than I did.

We were, therefore, on the whole, very fairly matched.

After riding at speed, as well as I could reckon, about two miles, Oaklands, to his great delight, had gained nearly a horse's length in advance of me--a s.p.a.ce which it seemed beyond my powers of jockeys.h.i.+p to recover. Between us, however, and the tree he had fixed on as our goal lay a small brook or water-course near the banks of which the ground became soft and marshy. In crossing this the greater weight of man and horse told against Oaklands, and gradually I began to creep up to him.

As we neared the brook it struck me that his horse appeared to labour heavily through the stiff clay. Now or never, then, was my opportunity; and shouting gaily, ”Over first, for a sovereign--good-bye, Harry,” I gave my horse the spur, and, putting him well at it, cleared the brook splendidly, and alighted safely on the farther bank.

Determined, if possible, not to be outdone, Harry selected a point, by crossing at which he could contrive to cut off a corner, and thus gain upon me considerably. In order to accomplish this it was necessary for him to take his leap at a spot where the brook was some feet wider than ordinary. Relying, however, on the known good qualities of the animal he rode, he resolved to attempt it. Settling himself firmly in his saddle, he got his horse well together, and then throwing up his whip-hand and (as Lawless -186--would have termed it) ”sticking in the persuaders,” he charged the brook at speed.

It was a well-imagined and bold attempt, and, had his horse been fresher, would have succeeded in winning the race; but we had kept up a fair pace during the whole of our ride, and now our gallop across the common, and more particularly the severe pace over the marshy ground, had tried his horse's wind considerably. Still, however, the n.o.ble animal strove to the utmost of its power to answer the call made upon it, and by a vigorous effort succeeded in clearing the brook; but the ground on the other side was rugged and broken, and, apparently exhausted by the exertion he had made, he stumbled, and after a slight struggle to preserve his footing fell heavily forward, pitching Harry over his head as he did so.

Fortunately the ground was soft and clayey, and neither man nor horse seemed to have sustained any injury, for I had scarcely time to draw rein ere they were on their legs again, and, as Harry's first act was to spring lightly into the saddle, I determined to secure the race at once; and cantering up to the poplar tree, which was now within a hundred yards of me, I snapped off a bough in token of victory. As I turned back again I observed that Harry had dismounted and was examining his horse's foot.

”Nothing wrong, is there?” asked I, as I rejoined him.

”Yes, everything's wrong,” was the reply; ”you've been and gone and won the race, you villain you--I've tumbled nose and knees into a mud-hole, and spoiled my white cord oh-no-we-never-mention-ums--and 'the Cid' has wrenched off one of his front shoes in the scrimmage.”

”And that's the worst of all the misfortunes,” said I, ”for here we are some ten or twelve miles from Cambridge at least, in a region utterly unknown, and apparently devoid of inhabitants; so where we are to find a smith pa.s.ses my poor skill to discover.”

”You're wrong about the inhabitants, I flatter myself,” replied Harry.

”Do you see the faint white mist curling above those trees to the right?

I take that to be smoke; where there's smoke there must be fire; fire must have been kindled by some human being or other--through that individual we will endeavour to obtain an introduction to some blacksmith, conjointly with sufficient topographical information to enable us to reach our destination in time for a certain meal called dinner, which has acquired an unusual degree of importance in my eyes within the last hour or so. I have spoken!”

”Like a book,” replied I; ”and the next thing is to -187--bring your sapient deductions to the test of experiment. There is a cart-track here which appears to lead towards the smoke you observed; let us try that.”

So saying, I also dismounted, and throwing my horse's bridle over my arm we proceeded together on foot in the direction Oaklands had indicated.

Ten minutes' walking brought us into a rough country lane, winding picturesquely between high banks and green hedges, affording an agreeable contrast to the flat, unenclosed tracts of corn-land so general throughout Cambridges.h.i.+re. After following this lane about a quarter of a mile, we came upon a small, retired ale-house, surrounded by trees. As we approached the door a stout, vulgar-looking woman, dressed in rather tawdry finery, ran out to meet us; on coming nearer, however, she stopped short as if surprised, and then re-entered the house as quickly as she had left it, calling to some one within as she did so. After waiting for a minute or two she came back, accompanied by a tall, disagreeable-looking man in a velveteen shooting-jacket, with a remarkably dirty face, and hands to match.

”Is there a blacksmith living anywhere near here, my good man?” inquired Oaklands.

”Mayhap there is,” was the reply in a surly tone. ”Can you direct us how to find him?” continued Oaklands.

”What might you want with him when you've found him?” was the rejoinder.

”My horse has cast a shoe, and I want one put on immediately,'” replied Oaklands, who was getting impatient at the man's unsatisfactory, not to say insolent, manner.

”Mayhap you won't get it done in quite such a hurry as you seems to expect! There's a blacksmith lives at Stony End, about five miles farther on. Go straight up the lane for about three miles, then turn to the right, then twice to the left, and then you'll see a finger-post that ain't got nothing on it--when you come to that----”

”Which I never shall do, depend upon it,” replied Oaklands. ”My good man, you don't imagine I'm going to fatigue myself and lame my horse by walking five miles up this unlucky lane, do you? If things really are as bad as you would make them out to be, I shall despatch a messenger to summon the smith, and employ myself in the meanwhile in tasting your ale, and consuming whatever you may happen to have in the house fit to eat.” I observed that the landlord and his wife, as I presumed -188--her to be, exchanged very blank looks when Oaklands announced this determination. When he ceased speaking she whispered a few words into the ear of the man, who gave a kind of surly grunt in reply, and then, turning to Harry, said, ”Mayhap I'll shoe your horse for you myself if you'll make it worth my while”.

”_You_ will? why, I thought you said there was not a smith within five miles?”

”No more there ain't, only me.”