Page 4 Advertisements Column 1

Manawatu Times, Volume X, Issue 1378, 20 December 1884, Page 4

HO if WE BEAT THE FAVO ■ : .;EITB. .-, ■)-:. ♦ ■ (From "Bush. Ballads," by A. L. Gordon. "Ay, squire," gaid Stevens,."; they back him at evens ; ■ '" The race is all over, bar shouting, they say ;'•■.. . The Clown ought to beat her ; Diclt Neville is swe-ter Than «yei — he swears he can win all the way. '•A gentleman rider — well, Fm an outsider. . But if he's agent who the mischief's a "..; . joe*? . You swells mostly blunder, Dick rides for the plunder, ' '' ■ Be rid 03 too like thunder — be sits like a rock. "He calls 'hunted fairly' a horse that ha barely Seen stripp'd for a trot within sight of the hounds, A horse that at Warwick beat Birdlime and •— ■ Yorick, ' i . And gave Abdelkader at Aintr«e nine pounds. . " " They say we have no test to warrant a protest ; .- Dick rides for a lord and stands m with a steward ; The light of f heir faces they show him—hit ease is • ' .Prejudged and his verdict already s*> cured. ■; '•/ J "But none can outlast her, and few travel faster, „/. . . ; .. '■■.' She slvides m her work olean away from . . The Drag, .. ••. - • ;■ ; Ton hold her and sit her she could'ntbe fitter, .--••. ; . . : . i - .; Whenever you hit her ihe'll spring liki a stag. • "And p'rhaps the green ; jacket, at odds though they back it, . ? / May fall, or there's noku^wing what may turn uo. ; : . .... The mare is quite ready, sit still and ride steady, , Keep cool ; ami I think you may just win theCup" > Dark-brown with tan muzclt, jint'irtnpjed for tho tussle, .• • .: Stood Iseult, arching her neck to the curb, A lean head and fiery, strong quarters and wiry, . : ■-■-.:- / f A loin rather light, tot a BhouMer superb.. Some parting injunction, bestowed .w^b. great unction, ~ '• " I tried to recall, but forgot like, a dunce, When Eeainald Murray, full tilt on White Surrey, . .V >. _•;; : ;„.. ►.* :'.•' I Came down m a hurry to start us at one*.;: " Keep back m the yellow 1 Come up on Othello I ; .■ ;., A i i Hold hard oii the chestnut I Turn rourd .on The Drag! ;• Keep back, there ou Spart n ! Back you, - sir;' in tartan! . . .-•-.; So, steady there, eaty,"and~ flown went theaag. --•■•' We started, and Kerr made strong running on Mermaid, Through furrows that led to the first gt»ke-ind-bnund. .; •.- . . The crack half extended Jook bloodlike and', splendid, .-.; Ibr. '■■ :.-'"- :: - •- : Held wide on the ; right where the headland was sound. hard to baffle her rush with the Bn»ffle, Before her two-«thirds of the field got away, . .. {■. All through the wet pasture where floods of the last year : , ■ . :'.-.'.u> Still loitered, 'thoy clotted my crimson : with, clay..;. . ,-.-..; _■■••; .= ■■ i- j •■' The fourth fence; a wattle, flrorM Monk^nd Bluebottle; ; ' ' : ; Ji ,' I,'1 ,' The Drag cama io grief at the blackthorn and ditch, ; ; "" l ' i ■'■'* " il .' The rails toppled over Bedoubt aad Bed Rover. • The laic stepped Lycurgui and Leioetter ...Bhira Witch.;- .•-;'.:: :; ' ''.!■'■/'■■• She passed like an arrow Kildare and Cock Sparrow, " ' " And Mantrap and Mermaid refused the stone, watl ; ": ?. v .-:..•-• Aud Giles on The Qieyling oame down at the paling, ; . v And I was left sailing m front of them all. ; ; ... I took them a burster, nor eased her; nor nursed her - / Until the black Bullfinch led inU the plough, Aad through the strong bramble we bored 1 with a scramble—My cap was knocked off by the haleltree bough. . . Wherefurrows looked lighter I drew the rein tighter — ■..-■,--.."•; ; Her dark chest all dappled with flakes of white foam, •. /' Her flanks mud, bespattered, a weak: rail she shattered V-' '■ .' \ , ./ T We landed on turf with our headii turned for kome ■ ■'■ ': ; ; ' Then crash'd a low binder, and then clow behind her The sward to the strokes, of the favorite shook. . ;, . „;•;,.- /' ■< ■>■. ■■:■.>>■ = His rush roused her mettle, yet «ver so little Sbe'shorten'd her.tride »i we raced to the brook. She rose when I hit h«r. . I saw the stream ' glitter, : • -- ; ' "' A wide scarlet noatriljflash^d close to my knee, ,y--»,i"^K - ■•■'^"^ ■*-* Between eky and water The Clown came and caughtber, . " :.. „ ! The space that he oleared was a caution ! -to see. - And forcing and running, discarding >- all cunning, A length to the front went the rider "m green ; ""'"_' A long strip of stubble,»nd then the big double, Two stiff, flights of nils, with . a quickset ~ She raced at the rasper, I felt my knees -grasp: her, -,j i,I found my hands give to the strain on . the bit, ■'„ -iV^ f. 'v*/.< She rose when The Clown did— our silks aB.. • we bounded 'zyLV) Brusb'd lightly, our stirrups clashed loui .as we lit, . j A rise steeply sloping, a fence with stone coping — . : , The last— we diverged round the base of the hill, His path was the neaier, his tap was the 'clearer, ■••.:' . '; _"■;''- I flogg'd up the straight and h« led sitting still. ; She came to his quarter and on .-. still I brought her, And, up to bis girth, to h''s breast-plate. she drew, " A short prayer from Neville just reach 'd mej l< TKe -Devil," He mutter'd— locked level the hurdles w« flew. _, . . ..-. . ..'..*..•■-* , -- <i»*i r - A hum of hoarse cheering, a dense orowd careering, _• ...,; s^ All Bights seen obsourely, all shouts vaguely heard, \'. ■' ,;••„.; " The Green wins P The Crimson 1" ' The multitude swims on, And figures are blended and features are blurr'd. „-,; -• . • - II The horse is ncr mnstw t ' " Tbe green forges past her !"- : ' "The Clown will outlast her!" "Th« Clown wina!' « The Clown !'? ■.:,.■ The white railing : races with all the white faces, ■■•■ .. The chestnut outpacei, * outstretche sih« brown. ■• ■■■ ■■ ' -- On still ppst the gateway the strains m the' sfcrajghtwfty, Still struggles. " The Olown by s short neck at mo",t,-" . He swerves, tbe green scourges, the stand rrurks and surges, - . .■. W And flashes, and verges, ' and flits the white post. , , ;. . „; t Ay ! so ends the tussle, — I knew the tan muzzle Was first, thopgh the .ring-men were yelling "Dead heat!" A nose I could swear by, but Clarke^'said " The mare by - - ; ; ' iIL A short bead."' 'nd that'j how ibe favorite wm» beat.