The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1894-09-18
was easily ruffied, but in Seymour's
hands he nnnara LIZ went lilo n la.,h

hands he generally Went like lamb
Sorcerer was ono of those excep.
tional horses that can take turn at
anything. He had gone through train
ing i'll the riding school, and on occa-
sions was the best of chargers. He was
so good looking that when he had q
military kit OH there was no horse in
the regiment that locked more snowy
than he did, bit the White hairs on his
chestnut cont and the silvery locks in
his tail showed the blood of old War
lock, and he had a large share of the
pace, cleverness and staying power that
marked his great ancestor AS we rodo
down the course l could hear the few
bookies who We're present III the ring
reckoning up the chances of the field in
stentorian cries of go to l, bar two" 1
was riding confidential old hunter
which was warranted to stand up over
the country, but had only entered him
to make up the race, and unless most of
the others camo to grief I had not the
smallest chance to be heard of ut the fin
lsh. There Is not much difficulty in
starting steeplechase, and we all got
away very well. We negotiated tho first
three or four fences without any casual
ties, but then we began to thin out O
little. Fortescue's hard mouthed old
Jade went outside the flag at the first
turn, and no did not manage to stop
her till she had gone half a mile toward
Dublin. Wilson and Mackworth fell at
the water jump, to the unconcealed salts
faction of the crowd which had collect
ed there, and there We're only five of us
left. Jacky Thompson was leading.
Seymour and Finch were riding side by
side, evidently intending to wait till
wo were nearer home and then come
to the front and finish together. About
q length behind them was Percy, and
brought up the rear There was n long
stretch of grass rather down hill OH the
farther side of the course from the
stand, and here we began to put OH the
pace. Percy evidently thought it was
now or never, and that if he allowed
himself to get too far behind he would
not DO ablo to push forward again, so
no made determined effort and shot
past Seymour and Finch. I think old
Mousetrap's temper must have been up
set by seeing horse passing SO close I
saw him shake his head and try to get
away from Seymour.
Tho next fence was bank, with a
ditch Oh the taking off side. 1t was
nothing OF place really, but only re-
quired little caro-. Thompson got over
cleverly, and Percy's horse took the
whole i'll his stride Then came Sew
mour, who had hardly steadied Mousse
trap, but even so tho horse ought not to
have made mistake. Perhaps he was
HURRIED, or there may have been q
stump sticking up where bush had
been cut away. I don't know how it
happened, but tho horse hit something,
lost his feet and fell OH the bank. Sey-
mour was all right and got clear at once,
slipping back into tho ditch. 1 told YOU
Finch had been alongside of Seymour,
and lie was close behind him at the fence.
Sorccrcr jumped it beautifully; but, to
my horror, as he was kicking back at the
bank l saw the hoof OH his off hind
foot strike the head of Seymour, who
fell down. Even amid the rattle of tho
horses 1t seemed to me that could hear
the dull crash of broken bono, and was
sure that terrible accident had hap
pened. So sure was I that, though one
does not often pull up in n race, I stop
ped my horse, which indeed had not
now tho smallest chance, dismounted
and ran to pick up Seymour. Poor fell
low had not been mistaken and could
almost trace the print of the cruel horse
shoe OH the back of his head. He was
nearly senseless and just muttered
Cold, cold!' A small crowd had begun
to collect, and borrowed couple of
frleze coats from two sympathizing
countrymen, trying with them to cover
my poor friend, and laid him in as easy
a position rs possible. The race glasses
at the stand had seem that something So
rious had happened, and our good old
surgeon, Macpherson, came ND OH q
trooper which he had taken from one of
our men who was keeping the ground.
When he had examined the injury, his
kind face fell as he said: 81 fear the base
Of tho skull is fractured. If so, it is
only question of hours. " Fortunately
the accident had happened near the road,
and carriage was quickly procured, i'll
Which Seymour was placed and taken
away by Macpherson.
When I came back to the stand. I
found that Finch had Won the race cast
ly and was still quite unconscious that
his friend was hurt. did not tell him
the particulars, but only said that it
had been thought better to take Sey-
mour back to Dublin. He pulled a
Wrapper over his racing jacket, jumped
OH hack and started at gallop in
pursuit. Immediately afterward I met
Mary Mccartney. She had very white
face and tears in her deep violet eyes as
she besought mo to tell her if the acct
dent had been dangerous. I made tho