"Do you ride short or long, capting?" inquired Tom, handling the
stirrup-leather.
David wore a puzzled look. "I ride as long as I can stick on;" and he
trotted out of the stable-yard. As Tom had predicted, he caught the
party just as they went off the turn-pike on to the grass. His heart
beat with joy; he cantered in among them. His horse was fresh,
squeaked, and bucked at finding himself on grass and in company, and
David announced his arrival by rolling in among their horses' feet
with the reins tight grasped in his fist. The ladies screamed with
terror. David got up laughing; his horse had hoped to canter away
without him, and now stood facing him and pulling.
"No, ye don't," said David. "I held on to the tiller-ropes though I
did go overboard." Then ensued a battle between David and his horse,
the one wanting to mount, the other anxious to be unencumbered with
sailors. It was settled by David making a vault and sitting on the
animal's neck, on which the ladies screamed again, and Lucy, half
whimpering, proposed to go home.
"Don't think of it," cried David. "I won't be beat by such a small
craft as this--hallo!" for, the horse backing into Talboys, that
gentleman gave him a clandestine cut, and he bolted, and, being a
little hard-mouthed, would gallop in spite of the tiller-ropes. On
came the other nags after him, all misbehaving more or less, so fine a
thing is example. When they had galloped half a mile the ground began
to rise, and David's horse relaxed his pace, whereon David whipped him
industriously, and made him gallop again in spite of remonstrance.
Pages:
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330