FAMOUS RIDES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20592, 15 December 1928, Page 17

FAMOUS RIDES.

What history reveals. .The beat of hoofs sounding through the night was often a sign of some deed of urgency pushed through many dangers by Hood and fell as well aa npou the turnpike road. In romance and history the splendid horses galloped until “*®y dropped to death. When the great Elizabeth lay dying, Sir Robert Oorey ' sat booted and spurred to carry, tha tidings to the Scottish King, in Edinburgh (writes Richard Moreton in. the Newcastle Weekly- Chronicle), . • ' ~ -A- fair hand dropped a priceless ring through the casement, the signal of the decease in ,f Christian, and comfortable fashion” of the Lioness of England. On, on through the night went Sir Robert on that wild dash to Scotland. Cecil had screened the news of the death from, the council, being at lordly Theobald's plotting in readiness for the coming of the new King. The journey was finished in record time, and Sir Robert wa - the first to kneel before the Scottish King UI Holyrood and hail him ; as/James the hirst of England. The “ new sun" had risen, and rich was the reward for tha ardent messenger. When Cromwell expired in the Palace of Whitehall on tha afternoon of September 3, 1658, it was, the anniversary of the glorious victories- 1 of Dunbar and Worcester. Pour strong horsemen rode north, south, cut, and west to tell the people of Bngla&d the 1 Protector ‘was no more. Harrison Aine- » worth glorified the scoundrel Dick er- ' pm as hero of the rids to York on Black’ ,’ Bess. It was quite untrue. Defoe, the great journalist, proved'it was a highwayman named Nick who performed the; feat on a roan maro- years before Turpin •was hanged at York, v Nick .robbecf a man at Gad's Hill, Kent, at 4 a.m. The following afternoon he was in York oh howling green. Nobody believer he - could have been in both places in so short a time, and he was acquitted by the He received royal - patronage andchanged his name, on the King’s commandj, to “ Swiftnicks." v ~l . n ' ,t l l l e early days of the history of Ental the world thrilled on hearing of the whirlwmd ride of Richard King. In 1842 the Boers settled at Maritzburg, and the British Government regarded this as an affront: Captain Smith, with a " forlorn hope,” was ordered to Port Natal. General Pretorius fell upon Smith's handful, and they made a hasty retreat- to Durban where: they entrenched 1 behind mud walls. Grahamstown was 400 miles away, and there was a relief force. “ I will ride there,” declared Richard King, and he started off in the inky blackness across the veldt after creeping through the Boer lines. After a short rest in the scrub, in the morning light he rode on ogam, his horse lengthening its gallop. That night he rode right into a Kaffir village. Before the yelling savages could seize their assegais, he had dashed clean ' through, singing the National Anthem. Torrential rains brought great floods, and the .rivers seemed unfordable. Again and again he and his horse were nearly swept away. He at last reached the dusty streets of Grahamstown. and spread the dire news. The relief reached Durban jn the nick of time, for the Boer-general had brought up heavy guns and was.bombarding the wretched mud defences of the British. To-day Richard King-is still hailed as a great South African hero. Drury Wake's tide headlong across the Balkans from Constantinople on'a mission to Lord Clarendon in London met with a rebuff at the end. This brilliant young diplomatist received secret informationtho Russian troops woro passing ov£r tie Pruth to threaten Turkey. He knew 3. steamer had sailed for London with despatches from the Ambassador in Constantinople with contrary news, saving everything was quiet. Hence the ride to outpace the steamer if be could. When* after a terrible journey, he reached railway communication he dropped asleep in the jolting train. Ho, however, made his way to London, and reached Lord Clarendon’s house at midnight. “It is war," said the young diplomat to the hoary statesman. “Nonsense,” replied Clarendon; “Have a cigar?” As a result England drifted unprepared into the Crimean War mainly through the artifices of the Emperor Napoleon the Third-of Itance. •When Lord Raglan issued his vague order to Lord Cardigan to “ move against the Russians ” the equerry was killed .as he rode forward. The second messenger did not understand the instructions, and . the result was that, though “everybody knew someone had blundered, ’’ Cardigan and the Lieht Cavalry attempted the impossible. "Through the vftlloy of death” the 606 snorting horses’bore the horsemen armed with spear, lance, and sabre. A pitiful remnant reached the British lines again.