Arthur Conan Doyle

“ In the market-place they meet,
They are holding every vantage in Cremona.
The Marshal Villeroy he has started from his bed;
The Marshal Villeroy has no wig upon his head;
‘I have lost my men!’ quoth he,
‘And my men they have lost me,
And I sorely fear we both have lost Cremona.’
Prince Eugène of Austria is in the market-place;
Prince Eugène of Austria has smiles upon his face;
p. 6Says he, ‘Our work is done,
For the Citadel is won,
And the black and yellow flag flies o’er Cremona.’
Major Dan O’Mahony is in the barrack square,
And just six hundred Irish lads are waiting for him there ”

“ We’re out upon the Common,
And the hounds are running still.
You must tighten on the leather,
For we blunder through the bracken;
Though you’re over hocks in heather
Still the pace must never slacken
As we race through Thursley Common in the morning.
p. 91We are breaking from the tangle
We are out upon the green,
There’s a bank and a hurdle
With a quickset between.
You must steady him and try it,
You are over with a scramble.
Here’s a wattle! You must fly it,
And you land among the bramble,
For it’s roughish, toughish going in the morning. ”

“ The French Army, including a part of the Irish Brigade, under Marshal Villeroy, held the fortified town of Cremona during the winter of 1702. Prince Eugène, with the Imperial Army, surprised it one morning, and, owing to the treachery of a priest, occupied the whole city before the alarm was given. Villeroy was captured, together with many of the French garrison. The Irish, however, consisting of the regiments of Dillon and of Burke, held a fort commanding the river gate, and defended themselves all day, in spite of Prince Eugène’s efforts to win them over to his cause. ”

“ We’ll take this bloomin’ circus on:
Ball-cartridge load! Now, steady!’
p. 24With a curse and a prayer the two faced round,
Dogged and grim they stood their ground,
And their breech-blocks snapped with a crisp clean sound
As the rifles sprang to the ‘ready.’
Alas for the Emir Ali Khan!
A hundred paces before his clan,
That ebony steed of the prophet’s breed
Is the foal of death and of danger. ”

“ And it’s ‘Forrard to the hollo!’
For the scent is lying strongly in the morning.
‘Who’s the fool that heads him?’
Hold hard, and let him pass!
p. 90He’s out among the oziers
He’s clear upon the grass.
You grip his flanks and settle,
For the horse is stretched and straining,
Here’s a game to test your mettle,
And a sport to try your training,
When the Chiddingfolds are running in the morning. ”

“ And Spider with Chauncy, the pick of the fancy,
Is going full split for a win.
‘Spider is winning!’ ‘Jo Chauncy is winning!’
‘He’s winning! He’s winning! Bravo!’
The bookies are raving, the ladies are waving,
The Stand is all shouting for Jo.
p. 74The horse is clean done, but the race may be won
By the Newmarket lad on his back;
For the fire of the rider may bring an outsider
Ahead of a thoroughbred crack.
‘Spider is winning!’ ‘Jo Chauncy is winning!’
It swells like the roar of the sea ”

“ They are down by the Whittlesea gate;
Leah’s complaining, and Mavis is gaining,
And Flo’s catching up in the straight.
p. 72Robin’s gone wrong, but the Spider runs strong,
He sticks to the leader like wax;
An utter outsider, but look at his rider—
Jo Chauncy, the pick of the cracks!
Robin was tailing and pecked at a paling,
Leah’s gone weak in her feet;
Boadicea came down at the railing,
Son of the Sea is dead beat.
Leather to leather, they’re pounding together,
Three of them all in a row;
And Irish Nuneaton, who never was beaten,
Is level with Spider and Flo. ”

“ Is all along o’ varmint, like the cheese-mites in the cheese;
p. 51The smallest kind o’ varmint, but varmint all the same,
Microscopes or somethin’—I forget the varmints’ name.
But I knows as I’m a goner. They never said as much,
But I reads the people’s faces, and I knows as I am such;
Well, there’s ’Urst to mind the ’orses and the ’ounds can look to Jack,
Though ’e never was a patch on me in ’andlin’ of a pack.
You’ll maybe think I’m boastin’, but you’ll find they all agree
That there’s not a whip in Surrey as can ’andle ’ounds like me ”

“ It was all along o’ master; which master ’as the name
Of a reg’lar true blue sportman, an’ always acts the same;
But we all ’as weaker moments, which master ’e ’ad one,
An’ ’e went and bought a motor-car when motor-cars begun.
I seed it in the stable yard—it fairly turned me sick—
A greasy, wheezy engine as can neither buck nor kick.
p. 80You’ve a screw to drive it forrard, and a screw to make it stop,
For it was foaled in a smithy stove an’ bred in a blacksmith shop. ”

“ Some hazards a soldier may shirk;
The statesman may joke, as he tops every stroke,
That at last he is high in his aims;
And the clubman will stand with a club in his hand
That is worth every club in St. ”

“ You see that ’orse’s tail, sir? You don’t! No more do we,
Which really ain’t surprisin’, for ’e ’as no tail to see;
p. 87That engine wore it off ’im before master made it stop,
And all the road was littered like a bloomin’ barber’s shop.
And master? Well, it cured ’im. ’E altered from that day,
And come back to ’is ’orses in the good old-fashioned way.
And if you wants to git the sack, the quickest way by far
Is to ’int as ’ow you think ’e ought to keep a motor-car.
p. 88WITH THE CHIDDINGFOLDS The horse is bedded down
Where the straw lies deep. ”

“ Pull the blind from off the winder! Prop me up, and ’old me so.
They’re drawin’ the black ’anger, just aside the Squire’s grounds.
’Ark and listen! ’Ark and listen! There’s the yappin’ of the ’ounds:
p. 56There’s Fanny and Beltinker, and I ’ear old Boxer call;
You see I wasn’t boastin’ when I said I knew ’em all.
Let me sit an’ ’old the bedrail! Now I see ’em as they pass:
There’s Squire upon the Midland mare, a good ’un on the grass;
But this is closish country, and you wants a clever ’orse
When ’alf the time you’re in the woods an’ ’alf among the gorse. ”

“ There’s Purcell on ’is piebald ’orse, an’ Doctor on the mare,
And the Master on ’is iron grey; she isn’t much to look,
But I seed ’er do clean twenty foot across the ’eathly brook.
There’s Captain Kane an’ McIntyre an’ ’alf a dozen more,
And two or three are ’untin’ whom I never seed afore;
p. 58Likely-lookin’ chaps they be, well groomed and ’orsed and dressed—
I wish they could ’a seen the pack when it was at its best. ”

“ Well, master took ’is motor-car, an’ moted ’ere an’ there,
A frightenin’ the ’orses an’ a poisonin’ the air.
p. 81’E wore a bloomin’ yachtin’ cap, but Lor’! wot did ’e know,
Excep’ that if you turn a screw the thing would stop or go?
An’ then one day it wouldn’t go. ’E screwed and screwed again,
But somethin’ jammed, an’ there ’e stuck in the mud of a country lane.
It ’urt ’is pride most cruel, but what was ’e to do?
So at last ’e bade me fetch a ’orse to pull the motor through. ”

“ And all the time the motor-car was pushin’ ’im be’ind.
Now, master lost ’is ’ead when ’e found ’e couldn’t stop,
And ’e pulled a valve or somethin’ an’ somethin’ else went pop,
p. 85An’ somethin’ else went fizzywiz, and in a flash, or less,
That blessed car was goin’ like a limited express.
Master ’eld the steerin’ gear, an’ kept the road all right,
And away they whizzed and clattered—my aunt! it was a sight.
’E seemed the finest draught ’orse as ever lived by far,
For all the country Juggins thought ’twas ’im wot pulled the car. ”

“ And as ’is mare just cleared the rail
He turned to them that rode be’ind,
For three was at ’is very tail.
‘’Ware ’oles!’ says ’e, an’ with the word,
Still sittin’ easy on his mare,
Down, down ’e went, an’ down an’ down,
Into the quarry yawnin’ there.
p. 104Some say it was two ’undred foot;
The bottom lay as black as ink.
I guess they ’ad some ugly dreams,
Who reined their ’orses on the brink.
’E’d only time for that one cry;
‘’Ware ’oles!’ says ’e, an’ saves all three.
There may be better deaths to die,
But that one’s good enough for me. ”

“ Oh, watch ’em, Maggie, watch ’em! Ain’t they just a lovely pack!
I’ve nursed ’em through distemper, an’ I’ve trained an’ broke ’em in,
An’ my ’eart it just goes out to them as if they was my kin.
Well, all things ’as an endin’, as I’ve ’eard the parson say,
The ’orse is cast, an’ the ’ound is past, an’ the ’unter ’as ’is day;
p. 60But my day was yesterday, so lay me down again.
You can draw the curtain, Maggie, right across the winder pane.
p. 61MASTER Master went a-hunting,
When the leaves were falling ”

“ For I said quite fair as I knew that mare,
And I proved my words was true.’
p. 77THE GROOM’S STORY Ten mile in twenty minutes! ’E done it, sir. That’s true.
The big bay ’orse in the further stall—the one wot’s next to you.
I’ve seen some better ’orses; I’ve seldom seen a wuss,
But ’e ’olds the bloomin’ record, an’ that’s good enough for us.
We knew as it wa’s in ’im. ’E’s thoroughbred, three part,
We bought ’im for to race ’im, but we found ’e ’ad no ’eart ”

“ I never cared for readin’ books, or fancy things like that;
p. 53But give me ’ounds and ’orses an’ I was quite content,
An’ I loved to ear ’em talkin’ and to wonder what they meant.
And when the ’ydrophoby came five year ago next May,
When Nailer was be’avin’ in a most owdacious way,
I fixed ’im so’s ’e couldn’t bite, my ’ands on neck an’ back,
An’ I ’eaved ’im from the kennels, and they say I saved the pack.
An’ when the Master ’eard of it, ’e up an’ says, says ’e,
‘If that chap were a soldier man, they’d give ’im the V.C.’
p. 54Which is some kind a’ medal what they give to soldier men ”

“ And first it went quite slowly and the ’orse went also slow,
But ’e ’ad to buck up faster when the wheels began to go;
p. 84For the car kept crowdin’ on ’im and buttin’ ’im along,
And in less than ’alf a minute, sir, that ’orse was goin’ strong. ”