74 REMINISCENCES OF A HUNTSMAN. 



prison, that he even set the mill going, and in the 

 confusion effected his escape without ransom. Of 

 course, among it all I did not entirely escape mo- 

 lestation. A butcher's dog near the Magpies Inn 

 caught the stag, and had got him down in a ditch by 

 the side of the road, and on getting up to the spot, I 

 had to descend into the ditch to choke off the dog, 

 when of course I also gave him the whip. While 

 doing this, in the act of stooping, I was suddenly 

 seized, and my head forced against the bank. Out of 

 breath as I was, I contrived to cast off the weight 

 that was on me, and to step up into the road, when I 

 saw my foe the butcher squaring at me as Dickens's 

 cabman did when he offered to fight Mr. Pickwick for 

 the shilling fare. Not a word was spoken, and I hit 

 out, and caught the knight of the blue-frock with 

 my right hand under the left eye. The butcher sat 

 down, and I remounted, the deer having gone off 

 with nothing harmed but his ear. All this I have 

 laughed at over and over again, because not a word 

 was said, and it all seemed such a matter-of-course, 

 and a part of the day's diversion. Once again besides 

 this, while in the act of breaking the pale of a small 

 paddock or garden to let the hounds through, near 

 Uxb ridge, I found myself collared. On turning round 

 to see wdio it was, a respectable man, my senior in 

 years, let go of me^ guessing, perhaps, from something 

 he saw, that I was angry. I dropped my hand, there- 

 fore, and administered to him, as he turned away, a 

 slight kick, mounted my horse, and soon forgot all 

 about it. He threatened an action, however, and but 

 for the very good-natured interference of Mr. William 

 Norton, a coal and timber merchant of Uxbridge, 

 might have caused me much trouble. It was curious 



