158 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER 



was hunting with Ward: this boy was on a five- 

 year-old, quieting him to hounds. Will, the whip, 

 was on a beast of a mare they called Long Jane, and 

 long enough, high enough, and lanky enough Long 

 Jane was ; in short, as one of the machines for boys 

 to practise gymnastics on, she would have been in- 

 valuable. Poor Will put her at a ditch, and in she 



went. " D n thy eyes," says Will, " I knew thee 



would stumble in when I put thee at it." " Then 



what a d n fool you must have been to have done 



it ! " says the boy, who, by the bye, would ride at 

 anything, the only difference being that he never 

 thought he should fall, or rather his horse.' 



A wonderful lover of sport must be the man who 

 leaves his donkey and its burden in the road to 

 follow hounds on foot, and a large-hearted sportsman 

 is he who takes the footman u^) behind him ; yet 

 such a thing has happened . 



' Mr. Russell, a famous M.F.H. in the west of 

 England, was on one occasion running a fox hard 

 in a wild and unfrequented part of his country, when 

 on account of a strong wind and deep cover he 

 had for a short time lost all sound of the pack. 

 Suddenly he overtook a miller, who, having tied 

 his donkey, with its sack of flour, to a hedge, was 

 joining the chase and running for his life. " Have 

 you seen or heard the hounds ? " said Russell in a 

 hurry. " Yes, sir," said the miller ; " they're just 

 afore, running like hell's bells ; doan't ye hear 'era ? " 



