DISCRETION. 131 



the track of an obvious bridle-road leads safely into 

 the next. 



A man who never jumps at all can by no possibility 

 be " pounded," whereas the easiest and safest of gaps 

 into an inclosure may mean a bullfinch with two ditches 

 at the other end. 



Perhaps you will find yourself ahead of every one as 

 the hounds spread, and stoop and dash forward with a 

 whimper that makes the sweetest of music in your ears. 

 Perhaps, as they swarm across the very lane in which 

 you are standing, discretion may calmly open the gate 

 for valour, who curses him in his heart, wondering what 

 business he has to be there at all. 



There is jealousy even in the hunting-field, though we 

 prefer to call it keenness, emulation, a fancy for riding 

 our own line, and I fear that with most of us, in spite 

 of the kindly sympathies and joyous expansion of the 

 chase, " ego et prceterea nihil" is the unit about which our 

 aspirations chiefly revolve. 



" What is the use ? " I once heard a plaintive voice 

 lamenting behind a blackthorn, while the hounds were 

 baying over a drain at the finish of a clipping thirty 

 minutes on the grass. " I've spoilt my hat, I've torn my 

 coat, I've lamed my horse, I've had two falls, I went 

 first, I'll take my oath, from end to end, and there's that 



K 2 



