Hoof Beats 



Smithson, Mr. Ralston." It was done. Miss 

 Smithson and I knew each other. She reached 

 her hand quite graciously across Rawdon's horse, 

 who was between us, but as Cleopatra seemed to 

 frown upon the idea, and edged farther and far- 

 ther away, the pleasure had to be deferred to 

 another time. 



We had stopped now on the edge of some woods, 

 and with a wave of his hand the huntsman cast 

 the pack into the heart of it, while some twenty 

 or thirty of us waited, chatting together in low 

 tones. One man had plaited his horse's tail with 

 red ribbon. It was rather fetching, I thought, and 

 I moved over closer in order to see how it was 

 done; and I made a resolution that if ever I owned 

 a hunter I would plait its tail in red ribbon. I 

 must have been quite close when the beast kicked 

 me, for he caught my boot squarely with both 

 hoofs, and then squealed in a perfectly disgusting 

 manner. The man turned in his saddle to see 

 what he had hit, he must have been quite used to 

 it I think; and I imagined he was going to apolo- 

 gize for owning such a vindictive animal, but he 

 only frowned at me and muttered something 

 under his breath. Rawdon rode up then and told 

 me to keep away, as the ribbon in the horse's tail 

 meant that he was a kicker and I have no reason to 

 doubt him. A few minutes later I had quite for- 

 40 



