That Ben kept himself before the public, may be gathered from the following comprehensive challenge, which we select from several of the same character, and which served for gossip for the gobemouches in 1843 and 1844:―― “A WORD FROM THE CHAMPION. “To the Editor of _Bell’s Life in London_. “SIR,――Seeing a challenge from Bendigo this week, I shall be happy to meet him on his own terms, £200 a ride (in which I heartily hope he will not disappoint me). I will meet him at my own house, on Tuesday evening next, to stake not less than £20 as a first deposit. Should this challenge not be accepted, I will fight Bendigo, Tass Parker, and the Tipton Slasher, once each within six months, for £200 a side, and shall be prepared to deposit £60――viz., £20 each match――as the first deposit, any time at my house, or at Tom Spring’s, the Castle Tavern, Holborn. Should this not be ‘a go’ within four months, I shall beg most respectfully to decline the Ring altogether. “B. CAUNT. “January 21st, 1844.” By many it was thought that the severe accident which had occurred to Bendigo, and occasioned a forfeit by him of £75 to Tass Parker, had placed another contest between him and the ponderous Ben out of the question. This did not, however, prove to be the case. At a sporting dinner at Owen Swift’s, at which, besides a full muster of Corinthians, Tom Spring, Peter Crawley, Jem Burn, Frank Redmond, Tom Oliver, Dan Dismore, Bill Jones, and many of the “professionals” were present, the matter of the Championship was formally discussed. Therein, with the consent of Caunt, Bendigo was matched to fight him for £200, Caunt’s subscription belt, and the Championship, and the Tipton Slasher staked £10 as a first deposit to fight the winner. How the first of these events did come off (unsatisfactorily), and how the second did _not_ come off at all, are fully recorded in the lives of BENDIGO and of WILLIAM PERRY. Suffice it here to say that Caunt lost his third battle with Bendigo by falling without a blow. (See Chapter I., page 28, _ante_.) A fearful catastrophe, by which the Champion suffered a heavy domestic bereavement, occurred during Caunt’s temporary absence from London on a visit to some country friends in Hertfordshire. By a fire which suddenly broke out at the “Coach and Horses,” St. Martin’s Lane, of which Caunt was at this time the landlord, two of Caunt’s children, and the servant by whom they were attended, were burnt to death. The facts of the case will best be gathered from a condensed report of the evidence at the coroner’s inquest, held at the Board Room of St. Martin’s parish, on the Thursday following the melancholy event.