THE HORSE ON WHICH TO HUNT 27 

 which must fall to his lot when he reaches the 



cab rank. 



If I have convinced you that there is any truth 

 in what I have said before, surely a good horse is 

 your neighbour, and claims a little of that duty all 

 religions teach to be his due. Can you stand un- 

 concernedly by ' The Sticks ' or ' The Holt ' whence 

 you and he have enjoyed so many a merry burst 

 together ; or, later, can you sit down in your cosy 

 dining-room to eat your evening meal, with an 

 easy conscience, and think of the old horse stand- 

 ing there shivering on a London cab stand? 

 Would he never visit you, think you, in your after- 

 dinner dreams, looking at you sadly and reproach- 

 fully with the question : 'Is this my return for a 



life's work ? ' 



I am not pleading for the ' brutes.' There are 

 enough of them, I fear me, to till the cab shafts of 

 England. But spare the gallant horse who falls 

 by the way. In most countries there is more than 

 one good but needy sportsman who will be glad to 

 take him, and let him finish his days quietly at 

 the sport he loves as well as you. Or there is 

 always the merciful bullet. Don't do a cruel and 

 ungrateful act for SOL 



