REMINISCENCES OF A HUNTSMAN. 61 



man, and, after looking at him for a moment, very 

 red in the face, said, under a state of considerable 

 excitement, "Yes, I thought so! Yes, it is;" and, 

 addressing the other, he asked, " Pray, sir, what 

 business have you on my horse ?" 



The other, affecting the greatest indignation, re- 

 plied, " Your horse, sir ? What do you mean, sir ? 

 Do you suppose, sir, you're the only man in the 

 world that has horses, sir ? " He then evidently 

 longed that the hounds would take up the running 

 again. 



" Yes, sir," replied the owner of the horse, " I'll 

 swear that you are on my hack, that I rode from 

 London and left at Cranford Bridge Inn. I'll have 

 you taken into custody for horse-stealing." 



The sportsman, finding that he was decidedly 

 likely to be on the wrong horse, then altered his 

 tone, and coolly said, " Well, sir, if it is your horse, 

 I'll take him back again;" and set off for the inn at 

 a hand gallop, when at that moment the hounds hit 

 the scent, and the owner of the horse, briefly hesi- 

 tating which to ride after, followed me. 



It was the number of men that hunted with me 

 that hastened the impossibility of maintaining stag- 

 hounds in so populous a country ; and, in addition 

 to this, the farmers of the Harrow Yale were cer- 

 tainly the most untoward set of men to deal with 

 I ever saw. In general their lands are leased to 

 them, and the acres are the property of colleges; 

 these tenants, therefore, are totally independent on 

 any landlord, and, of course, there are no reserva- 

 tions as to sporting. It is the fashion for one class 

 of politicians to say, that if we had more leases we 



