CHAPTER IV.
"Δὴ τότ᾽ ἀνασχομένω, ὁ μὲν ἤλασε δεξίον ὦμον
Ἶρος, ὁ δ᾽ αὐχέν᾽ ἔλασσεν ὑπ᾽ οὖατος, ὀστέα δ᾽ εἴσω
Ἔθλασεν‧ αὐτίκα δ᾽ ἦλθεν ἀνὰ στόμα φοίνιον αἷμα."
"Dê tot' anaschomenô, ho men êlase dexion ômon
Iros, ho d' auchen' elassen hup' ouatos, ostea d' eisô
Ethlasen; autika d' êlthen ana stoma phoinion haima."
Toward the end of my second year an event came off in which we were all much interested—a steeplechase in which both Universities were to take part. The stakes were worth winning—twenty sovs. entrance, h.f., and a hundred sovs. added; besides, the esprit de corps was strong, and men backed their opinions pretty freely. The venue was fixed at B——; the time, the beginning of the Easter vacation.
The old town was crowded like Vanity Fair. There was a railway in progress near, and the navvies and other "roughs" came flocking in by hundreds, so that the municipal authorities, justly apprehensive of a row, concentrated the cohorts of their police, and swore in no end of specials as a reserve.