With Lee in Virginia | Page 7

England, and upon his return Vincent had, except during the hours
he spent with his father, almost lived on horseback, either riding about
the estate, or paying visits to the houses of other planters.
For an hour or more every day he exercised his father's horses in a
paddock near the house, the major being wheeled down in an
easy-chair and superintending his riding. As these horses had little to
do and were full of spirit, Vincent's powers were often taxed to the
utmost, and he had many falls; but the soil was light, and he had
learned the knack of falling easily, and from constant practice was able
at the age of fourteen to stick on firmly even without a saddle, and was

absolutely fearless as to any animal he mounted.
In the two years which had followed he had kept up his riding. Every
morning after breakfast he rode to Richmond, six miles distant, put up
his horse at some stable there, and spent three hours at school; the rest
of the day was his own, and he would often ride off with some of his
schoolfellows who had also come in from a distance, and not return
home till late in the evening. Vincent took after his English father
rather than his Virginian mother both in appearance and character, and
was likely to become as tall and brawny a man as the former had been
when he first won the love of the rich Virginian heiress.
He was full of life and energy, and in this respect offered a strong
contrast to most of his schoolfellows of the same age. For although
splendid riders and keen sportsmen, the planters of Virginia were in
other respects inclined to indolence; the result partly of the climate,
partly of their being waited upon from childhood by attendants ready to
carry out every wish. He had his father's cheerful disposition and good
temper, together with the decisive manner so frequently acquired by a
service in the army, and at the same time he had something of the
warmth and enthusiasm of the Virginian character.
Good rider as he was he was somewhat surprised at the horse the
overseer had selected for him. It was certainly a splendid animal, with
great bone and power; but there was no mistaking the expression of its
turned-back eye, and the ears that lay almost flat on the head when any
one approached him.
"It is a splendid animal, no doubt, Jonas," he said the first time he
inspected it; "but he certainly looks as if he had a beast of a temper. I
fear what was told my mother about him is no exaggeration; for Mr.
Markham told me to-day, when I rode down there with his son, and
said that we had bought Wildfire, that a friend of his had had him once,
and only kept him for a week, for he was the most vicious brute he ever
saw."
"I am sorry I have bought him now, sir," Jonas said. "Of course I
should not have done so if I had heard these things before; but I was

told he was one of the finest horses in the country, only a little tricky,
and as his price was so reasonable I thought it a great bargain. But I see
now I was wrong, and that it wouldn't be right for you to mount him; so
I think we had best send him in on Saturday to the market and let it go
for what it will fetch. You see, sir, if you had been three or four years
older it would have been different; but naturally at your age you don't
like to ride such a horse as that."
"I sha'n't give it up without a trial," Vincent said shortly. "It is about the
finest horse I ever saw; and if it hadn't been for its temper, it would be
cheap at five times the sum you gave for it. I have ridden a good many
bad-tempered horses for my friends during the last year, and the worst
of them couldn't get me off."
"Well, sir, of course you will do as you please," Jonas said; "but please
to remember if any harm comes of it that I strongly advised you not to
have anything to do with it, and I did my best to dissuade you from
trying."
Vincent nodded carelessly, and then turned to the black groom.
"Jake, get out that cavalry saddle of my father's, with the high cantle
and pommel, and the rolls for the knees. It's like an armchair, and if one
can't stick on on that, one deserves to be thrown."
While the groom was putting on the saddle, Vincent stood patting the
horse's head and talking to it,