THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



say : " Never let a liorse hit yon in your face with his head, 

 Frank; it is a symptom of bad horsemanship. When a 

 horse pluno-es, or rears, always keep your liead and person a 

 little inclined to the left side of him, and tiien, should he lose 

 his balance, and fall backward, you slip off before he comes to 

 the ground." I heard him say those very words to Master 

 Raby the otlier day.' Here the coachman and his young- 

 master took their departure homeward, the former repeating 

 his lesson, and assuring Frank, at the same time, that if he 

 would come into the servants' hall before he went to bed, he 

 would clap a raw beef-steak to his face, as the fighting-men do, 

 w^hich would take out all the blackness by the morrow. 



The hour of dessert having arrived, in walked Master Francis 

 with his brother and two sisters, looking as demure as a saint. 

 ' What have you done to your face, my dear ? ' inquired Lady 

 Charlotte ; ' it is much swollen above your left eye.' ' Rodney 

 threw up his head with me this morning, mamma, and struck 

 me in the face,' was his reply.' ' Oh, Frank ! ' said Mr. 

 Raby, ' how could you let him do that ? A good horseman 

 never suffers from such an accident. Should his horse begin 

 to play tricks, he always keeps his own head inclined towards 

 the left, and then he cannot be struck as you have been. I 

 have known instances of persons having nearly every tooth 

 knocked out by blows from horses' heads.' Frank said nothing, 

 but refused to eat an orange, until twice asked to do so. As 

 he was peeling it, the wound on his hand appeared. ' Why, 

 Frank,' exclaimed Lady Charlotte, ' you have been in perils 

 to-day ; did Rodney throw you ? ' ' No, mamma,' he replied, 

 ' I was takino- a shot at a rook out of Jem's gun, and it was 

 loaded so high that it struck me on my hand. But it will 

 soon be well, and coachman says if I come to him before I go 

 to bed to-night, he will do for me what the boxers do — clap a 

 raw beef-steak under my night-cap, and I shall have no black 

 eye to-morrow.' ' Nasty fellow ! ' exclaimed Lady Charlotte ; 

 ' I insist upon it, he does no such thing. What could put it 

 into the man's head to doctor my children ? ' Frank was again 

 silent, when he was at length addressed hy the tutor, in rather 

 a grave tone. ' If you had remained at home this morning, 

 Frank, and done what I wished you — translated tliat chapter 

 in Aurelius, De viris illustrihuH, and finished your exercise on 

 the battle of Pharsaliii, you would not luive met witli tliese 



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