The Umballa Autumn Meeting was not a great success either, owing to much the same reason. The rules regarding betting were a trifle lax, but Ryder, who had returned from England, rode an Australian horse named Blackthorn for Lord William, winning the Sirhind Derby, also several other races; but Island King, a horse Ryder had brought back with him, had a terrible fall when running for the Cup, and had to be put out of his pain. Paperchases were much in vogue in India during the cold weather. In Calcutta they were very popular, large fields collecting, but eventually they became little short of steeplechases. A number of women used to ride in them, and go right well, but so many who joined in the chase were given to racing it became a little dangerous, as will be readily grasped by anyone who has been closely followed either in the hunting field or in a paper-chase by a racing man, who may, and at times does, forget all about waiting his turn at a fence, and just pushes and rushes wherever he sees a chance, quite regardless of consequences. What matter whose face they trample on so long as they get there! There were some great chase riders in those days, Captain David Papillon, Colonel Oliver Probyn, with his one arm, Lord William Beresford, and that good sort Mr. Sydney Hartwell of the Oude and Roulicund Railway. What nerve that man had! I remember a wonderful grey roan pony he drove, with a knee as big as an apple dumpling, the result of one of his many accidents, arising from the fact that he was almost impossible to hold. I doubt if many people would have cared to drive the gee. Mr. Hartwell was a strong man, yet it took him all his time to hold this handsome quadruped. He was like a miniature carthorse, and exceedingly fast. An extra pair of reins were always buckled on to the bit and rested under a clip on the dashboard in case of the first lot giving way under the strain. The traces generally dangled loose, the whole cart and contents, no matter what weight, being pulled from the bit and reins.