142 i^itJing to f^ountJg. 



you, as you stand there like a child raefull}' viewing 

 a toy boat upon the Serpentine, the string to which 

 has become detached. No, ride at it manfully, and 

 get over or into it at the first attempt, or with as 

 much determination, if less valour, shirk it at once. 



No run is so good as to warrant your leaving a 

 human being hung up in his stirrups, with his horse 

 atop of him, in a ditch, or in any other position of 

 actual danger, but it is not incumbent upon you, if 

 hounds are running well, to lose your own place by 

 riding out of your way to catch the runaway steed 

 even of a friend, although it would be undoubtedly 

 an act of great kindness to do so. Grasp the horse's 

 bridle, if you can, as he rushes past you, and hitch 

 him up by its reins to the nearest gate-post, if no 

 yokel is at hand to take him back, and I think you 

 will have done your duty ; unless in the case of the 

 huntsman, when an action of self-sacrifice is, I think, 

 incumbent upon you ; and gallantry would dictate a 

 similar course to most were the empty saddle a side- 

 saddle. 



But 3^ou are ''down" yourself, we will suppose, 

 and of course, if possible, will retain as firm a hold of 

 your reins as you v/ould of a solitary plank if similarly 

 wrecked at sea ; for as that would be then your only 

 apparent means of safely reaching the shore, so, 

 assuredly, is your horse now the only means by which 



