Therefore I had the groom head the horse down the drive, and the moment he released him, I touched Dr.Bell with the spurs.

The result was magical.

He started on a run but kept in the road where I wanted him to be, giving me, for the moment, a sense of having something almost like control over him.

At the foot of the drive was a gate which I knew could be opened without dismounting, by pulling a rope, and as no horse, unless quite out of his mind, will deliberately run into a gate, I had reason to hope that Dr.Bell would stop when he got there.

Imagine my feelings, then, when on sight of the gate he not only failed to slacken his pace, but actually dashed at it faster than ever.