ANCIENT HISTORY 33 



country than Tom Firr, and then twenty years 

 later we find him still in the same position, ever 

 ready to face the stiffest obstacles when necessary, 

 but never jumping for the sake of jumping. I 

 remember an occasion in his last season but one 

 that impressed me very considerably at the time. 

 Hounds had been hallooed away from Botany Bay, 

 and the huntsman, being in the covert, made what 

 haste he could to follow them. Arriving at the 

 gate out, which had always previously only wanted 

 a push of the whip to open, he found it chained up. 

 Most of us in a similar position would have been 

 disconcerted, and lost time in fumbling at the 

 hinges, but Firr never hesitated a moment, and 

 turning his horse round, popped quickly over the 

 gate as if it had been a gap. The performance was 

 a masterly exhibition of nerve, quickness, and 

 horsemanship, a collection, I may remark, that is 

 not often found in men who have reached the ripe 

 age of fifty-eight. There is a story of Firr and two 

 Melton bruisers that is worth telling, though, as I 

 was not present, I will not vouch for the truth of 

 it. Capt. A. and Mr. B. were rather jealous of one 

 another, and each probably watched his rival's 

 proceedings more carefully than the hounds, but 

 they were generally in a prominent position during 

 a run, unless the desire for jumping an extra big 

 fence brought them to grief. One day Capt. A. 

 happened not to be out, and during the run Firr 

 found himself confronted by a piece of timber in 

 the corner of the field as the only means of getting to 

 hounds. The timber was extra high and stiff withal 

 (promising a fall to the man who first essayed to 

 charge it) . 

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