l8o THE HORSE AXD HIS RIDER 



over the second bar. For tlie next half-hour I took 

 care always to go over second bars, waiting patiently 

 till a top bar was broken. I had found my level, and 

 was resolved to keep it. On one occasion I thought 

 that a top bar never would be broken; and the cessation 

 was unpleasant, as successful horsemen disappeared 

 one after another. But I perceived that there was a 

 regular company of second-bar men, so that as long 

 as I could get over a rail three feet high I need not 

 fear that I should be left alone. And hitherto the 

 pace had not been quick enough to throw the second- 

 bar men out of the hunt. But soon there came a real 

 misfortune. There was a fence with only one bar, 

 with only one apparent obstacle. I am blind as well 

 as heavy, and I did not see the treacherous wire 

 beneath. A heavy philanthropist, just before me, 

 smashed the one, and I rode on at what I thought to 

 be a free course. My little horse, seeing no more 

 than I did, rushed upon the wire, and the two of us 

 rolled over in ignominious dismay. The horse was 

 quicker on his feet than I was, and liking the sport, 

 joined it at once single-handed, while I was left alone 

 and disconsolate. Men and horses, even the sound 

 of men and horses, disappeared from me, and I found 

 myself in solitude in a forest of gum-trees. 



' And in that wild country I might^be wandering 

 about for a week without seeing anything but a 

 cockatoo or an Australian magpie. There does, how- 

 ever, always come some relief in these miserit s. I 



