After making one violent effort to get his head and bolt,--an
effort which it tasked Harry’s strength and skill to the utmost to
counteract,--the Don gradually settled into his stride, crossed a
grass-field, and flew across an easy fence at the end of it, with a
bound which would have cleared one of three times its magnitude, in
a style which convinced Harry of the superior powers of the animal
he bestrode. Besides Black Eagle and Don Pasquale, six other horses
started. Of these, one, a fiery chestnut colt, rushed at his first
fence, fell, threw his jockey, then got away, and was not caught for
the next two hours; a ploughed field pumped the wind out of two more so
effectually, that for all chance of winning the race they might as well
never have started; the jump into the lane settled a fourth, which was
led off with two broken knees; while a furze common used up a fifth; so
that as they approached the brook, the sporting cornet (who rode his
own horse, Grey Robin), Tirrett, and Harry, were the only remaining
competitors. About five hundred yards from the brook (which was a very
picturesque but singularly uncomfortable looking stream to ride over,
having steep rugged banks, being too deep to ford, and quite as wide
as a horse could conveniently leap), Tirrett, who was leading, held in
Black Eagle with a view, as Coverdale imagined, to save his wind, and
get him well together for the leap. His own horse, which was going
beautifully, was so fresh, that Harry considered him able to clear the
brook without any such precautions, and believing, if he kept on at the
same pace he should either gain ground which Tirrett would be unable to
recover, or force him to press Black Eagle to a degree which might break
him down at his leap, he did not draw rein until he came to within about
fifty yards of the bank. Having mentally selected the spot at which he
meant to charge the brook, he was about to put his horse at it, when a
rushing sound caused him to turn his head. As he did so, Tirrett dashed
by him like a flash of lightning, so closely that their elbows brushed,
while as he passed he turned in his saddle, and brought his riding whip
down with his full force between Don Pasquale’s ears. The effect of his
villainous scheme fully answered his expectations; the horse, which had
been going at an easy stretching gallop, and was just gathering itself
up for the leap, stopped so abruptly, that it was with the greatest
difficulty Harry was able to prevent himself from going over its head;
the next moment the animal reared, and stood pawing the air wildly with
its fore legs, so that Coverdale was forced to throw himself forward and
cling to the creature’s neck to prevent it from falling over upon him.
Then commenced a furious struggle for mastery between man and horse.
Tirrett’s cowardly stroke had aroused the vicious temper of the brute,
and failing in its first desperate attempts to unseat its rider, it laid
back its ears, planted its feet firmly on the ground, and obstinately
refused to move. Irritated beyond control at the rascally trick which
had been played him, and at its complete success, Coverdale, with whip,
spurs, and bit, gave Don Pasquale a thorough specimen of his quiet
manner, but with no other result than one or two futile attempts to
bite or kick its rider: at length he was compelled to desist from pure
exhaustion, and, laying the bridle on the animal’s neck, he shifted
the whip to his left hand, while he extended the cramped fingers of his
right, preparatory to recommencing hostilities. Whether through mere
caprice, or whether, as is more probable, the Don caught sight of the
other horses, which had safely accomplished the transit of the brook,
and were resuming their course on the other side, it is not easy to
decide; certain it is, however, that the moment it found its head at
liberty, it dashed off at full speed; and before Harry could gather up
the reins, the creature had reached the bank, plunged madly forward,
and in another moment Coverdale found himself up to the breast in
water, with no part of his horse visible except the head. Although taken
completely by surprise, his presence of mind did not forsake him; thanks
to his experience in the hunting-field, the situation was not new to
him, and scarcely had he glanced round ere his quick eye selected the
point at which he should effect a landing; guiding his horse to a spot
where the bank was least steep and abrupt, he waited until the animal
obtained a precarious footing; then, encouraging it by hand and voice,
he lifted it by the rein, and urged it forward; there was a scramble and
a slip, then a more violent struggle than before, and the Don and his
rider were once again high, though by no means dry, on _terra firma_. As
soon as he could find time to look after his competitors in the race,
he became aware that both had cleared the brook in safety, and were half
across the field beyond, Tirrett some twenty yards ahead,--a distance
which he kept so completely without effort, that Harry at once perceived
Grey Robin was beaten. That Tirrett thought the same of both his
antagonists was evident, from the easy pace at which he was going. In
order to accomplish his rascally manœuvre before crossing the brook,
he had pressed Black Eagle injudiciously; and, confident that both the
other horses must be in an equally exhausted condition, he was saving
him for the final struggle. He was, however, wrong in regard to Don
Pasquale; true, its contention with its rider had taken for the time a
good deal out of it, but the last act of that affair having consisted of
a display of passive obstinacy, had in some degree refreshed it; and its
plunge into the brook had also exercised a beneficial influence; so that
Harry perceived, to his great delight, so soon as they resumed their
course on the farther bank, that his horse had plenty of good running
still left in it, and when it got again into its stride, that it was
improving every minute. Thus, if Coverdale could manage to creep up to
his opponent so gradually as not to alarm him until he had regained
a portion of the ground he had lost, and Dick’s suggestion of the
desperate leap over the wall should prove at all practicable, he did
not despair of the race yet. In accordance with this view, Harry rather
restrained than urged the Don, until Tirrett had cleared the next fence,
and entered the field beyond; but the moment the overhanging branches of
the hedge closed behind him, Coverdale gave his horse the rein, came up
with Grey Robin, who disputed precedence with him for a few yards, and
then fell back beaten; flew over the fence like a bird, took up the
running on the other side in first-rate style; and before Tirrett had
got Black Eagle fairly into his stride again, the Don was alongside of
him. And now the race, properly so called, began in earnest: for nearly
a mile the course lay along a slight descent of smooth springy turf,
terminated by a ditch, and a low brick wall heightened by a rail, beyond
which the ground rose more steeply for a short distance, up to the
winning-post. Thus, as Dick had foreseen, the man and horse that first
cleared the wall in safety must of necessity win. At one spot the fence
was broken, and the wall partially knocked down; but this gap, although
within the marked line, was somewhat out of the direct course. Thus,
by taking the ditch, wall, and fence, at the nearest point (always
supposing any jockey bold enough to attempt such a leap, and fortunate
enough to accomplish it in safety), an amount of distance would be saved
which would ensure success to the enterprising rider. Harry’s quick eye
took in the situation at a glance, and he resolved to attempt it, unless
he should gain such an advantage over his adversary, before reaching the
boundary wall, as should render his success no longer a doubtful matter.
That Tirrett equally perceived the critical nature of the situation
might be gathered from the fact that, although aware of the task before
him (for even across the gap the leap was one which a good horseman, on
a fresh steed, might congratulate himself on having accomplished safely,
and which, on a tired one, he would think twice ere he ventured to
attempt), he pressed the pace to the utmost extent of his horse’s power,
with the evident intention of rendering Don Pasquale so blown that it
must break down at the leap. Unwilling to risk the desperate chance
which Dick’s _billet_ had suggested, Coverdale exerted all his skill to
maintain the position he had gained, which at one moment was in advance
of, and for some distance neck and neck with, his opponent; but,
although Don Pasquale was the stronger animal of the two, and gifted
with greater powers of endurance, on soft level turf Black Eagle had
decidedly the advantage in point of swiftness; moreover, in a mere trial
of speed, Tirrett’s acquaintance with all the resources of professional
jockeyship stood him in good stead, so that before they had approached
the wall Black Eagle had not only passed, but was several lengths ahead
of his opponent. Thus, Coverdale perceived that, unless he chose to
adopt Dick’s dangerous suggestion, he must relinquish all chance of
winning the race. Had it been simply a trial of speed and skill, good
sense and right principle would probably have prevented Harry
from risking his life for so inadequate an object; but Tirrett’s
dishonourable behaviour towards Lord Alfred, and his rascally attempt to
excite the vicious temper of Don Pasquale (an attempt which all but
gained its object), had irritated and excited Coverdale to such a degree
that, reckless of consequences, he was eager to dare any peril rather
than allow such infamous conduct to be triumphant. Accordingly, keeping
the direct line, he shouted to Tirrett, who had turned off to the left
and was making for the gap, “Why don’t you follow me, sir, like a man,
instead of sneaking over gaps like a coward?” he got his horse well in
hand, and rode boldly on.
When Tirrett became aware of his intention he half drew in his rein,
irresolute what course to take; if he refused to follow, and Coverdale
should by any chance succeed in getting safely over, he knew that the
race, and all he had depending on it, would be lost, and he eagerly
scanned the leap with his practised eye; but it was too formidable, and,
as Dick had foreseen, his courage failed him; so, turning first red,
then pale, he muttered an uncharitable wish concerning Harry’s neck,
and rode on towards the gap, hoping for its fulfilment. As Coverdale
approached the wall, the conviction that he was about to attempt a most
hazardous, if not an impossible feat, forced itself upon him; still his
resolution never wavered, and he was preparing himself for the leap,
when a figure, which he recognised as that of the groom, suddenly rose
from the ditch, and, pointing to a particular spot, shouted, “Come over
here! give him his head, and let him take it his own way; he’s got his
steam up, and wouldn’t refuse a haystack.”
Relying on the man’s acquaintance with the animal, Harry resolved to
follow his advice implicitly, and, slackening his rein, pressed his hat
firmly over his brows, clasped his saddle tightly with his knees, and
awaited the result.
Dick was not mistaken in his estimate of the Don’s courage; for, as soon
as the horse perceived the obstacle before it, it pricked up its ears,
gathered its legs well under it, and dashed forward. Nor had he formed a
wrong conception in regard to the animal’s general powers of endurance;
but the episode occasioned by Tirrett’s foul blow, with the subsequent
immersion in and struggle out of the brook, were incidents on which
he had not calculated. Thus, although Don Pasquale rose to the leap
gallantly, and by a prodigious bound cleared ditch, wall, and fence, the
exertion so completely exhausted its remaining strength, that, on its
descent on the further side, all Harry’s efforts were unable to keep it
on its legs, and it pitched heavily forward, falling with and partially
on its rider.