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Of falls no man except Assheton Smith had more ; 

 there was scarcely a bone in his body that had not been 

 broken. On one occasion, when leading in a run from 

 Whitnall Wood, he jumped into a pond grown over 

 with green weeds, and Mr Warburton rode right on the 

 top of him, and both were submerged. The captain 

 was very much hurt ; but by the aid of the Oldfield 

 Lane doctor, a famous bonesetter, he recovered in three 

 weeks, and came out again as cheery as a lark. But 

 the worst fall he had was in his early days in Lincoln- 

 shire, when his horse fell back on him in a drain, the 

 pommel of his saddle pounding in his chest-bone and 

 three ribs, besides breaking his collar-bone, and smashing 

 his ankle on getting out. This, with most people, would 

 have led to an announcement that certain horses well- 

 known in Lincolnshire were to be sold at Tattersalls', 

 in consequence of the owner declining hunting. But the 

 captain, as soon as out of the doctor's list, seemed 

 determined to make up for it by riding harder than 

 ever. 



But perhaps the most characteristic anecdote of John 

 White's nerve is the following given by ' Nimrod ' : — 



' During the last year that Mr Thomas Assheton 

 Smith hunted Leicestershire, he had a run of nineteen 

 miles point blank, which is well known by the name of 

 the Bel voir Day. It so happened that the pace was so 

 good, and the country so severe, that no one was with 

 the hounds towards the last except Mr Smith and Mr 

 John White. It also happened that they came to a 

 fence so strong and high, that there was only one place 

 where it appeared at all practicable, and this was in the 

 line Mr White was taking. The consequence was, Mr 

 Smith was obliged to turn to this place, expecting to 



