82 RIDING RECOLLECTIONS. 



scramble for it, as seldom fell, but under his method of 

 riding, sitting well down in the saddle, with the reins in 

 both hands, they never took off wrong, and in this lay 

 the great secret of his superiority. When I knew him 

 he was an exceedingly temperate man ; for many years 

 I believe he drank only water, and he eschewed tobacco 

 in every form. " The reason you gentlemen have such 

 bad nerves" he said to me, jogging home to Melton one 

 evening in the dusk that always meets us about 

 Somerby, " is because you smoke so much. It turns 

 your brains to a kind of vapour ! " the inference was 

 startling, I thought, and not complimentary, but there 

 might be some truth in it nevertheless. 



We have put off a great deal of time at our first 

 fence, let us do it without a fall, if we can. 



When a hunter's quarters are under him in taking off, 

 he has them ready to help him over any unforeseen 

 difficulty that may confront him on the other side. 

 Should there be a bank from which he can get a pur- 

 chase for a second effort, he will poise himself on it 

 lightly as a bird, or perhaps, dropping his hind-legs 

 only, shoot himself well into the next field, with that 

 delightful elasticity which, met by a corresponding action 

 of his rider's loins, imparts to the horseman such sensa- 

 tions of confidence and dexterity as are felt by some 



