THE SPORTSMAN IN FRANCE. 53 



rather too resolute a customer to thwart, 

 cleared it in capital form, and never after- 

 wards refused a leap of any kind. 



But where was our host on his stout 

 Norman beast ? — still on the wrong side 

 of the ditch ; but, screwing his courage to 

 the sticking-place, he trotted his nag some 

 twenty or thirty yards from the/os5^, and 

 with both eyes shut, the reins in the right 

 hand, and the flowing mane in the left, he 

 courageously dug his heels into his horse's 

 sides, and trusted to chance for a safe 

 landing on the opposite bank. 



But lo ! what mishaps will sometimes 

 befall adventurous horsemen ! The gallant 

 grey, of Norman extraction, rushed to the 

 ditch, but instead of clearing it, turned 

 sharp round, after the fashion of a Pad- 

 dington omnibus at the Bank of England, 

 an act of circumambulation that pitched 

 the bewildered Frenchman plump into the 

 middle of the stagnant water, with which 



