“'You 're in Lucan, sir,' says a man.
“'And where 's the review?' says my grandfather.
“'Five miles behind you, sir.'
“'Blessed Heaven!' says he; 'and where 's the Duke?'
“'God knows,' said the man, giving a wink to the crowd, for they thought
he was mad.
“'Won't you get off and take some refreshment?' says the man, for he was
the owner of a little public.
“'Get off!' says my grandfather; 'it's easy talking! I found it hard
enough to get on. Bring me a pint of porter where I am.' And so he
drained off the liquor, and he wiped his face, and he turned the beast's
head once more towards town.
“When my grandfather reached the Park again, he was, as you may well
believe, a tired and a weary man; and, indeed, for that matter, the
beast did n't seem much fresher than himself, for he lashed his sides
more rarely, and he condescended to go straight, and he didn't carry his
head higher than his rider's. At last they wound their way up through
the fir copse at the end of the field, and caught sight of the review,
and, to be sure, if poor D. and D. left the ground before under a grand
salute of artillery and small arms, another of the same kind welcomed
him back again. It was an honor he 'd have been right glad to have
dispensed with, for when 176 heard it, he looked about him to see which
way he 'd take, gave a loud neigh, and, with a shake that my grandfather
said he 'd never forget, he plunged forward, and went straight at the
thick of the crowd; it must have been a cruel sight to have seen the
people running for their lives. The soldiers that kept the line laughed
heartily at the mob; but they hadn't the joke long to themselves, for my
grandfather went slap at them into the middle of the field; and he did
that day what I hear has been very seldom done by cavalry,--he broke
a square of the Seventy-ninth Highlanders, and scattered them over the
field.
[Illustration: 061]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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