HOW I CAME TO WRITE A BOOK 7 



— squints, and all sorts of things, don't 

 you know, my dear ? '* so that by then 

 she will have been " through the mill '* 

 sufficiently to take her subject well in 

 hand. 



Of course, it is simplicity itself for a 

 bronzed warrior fresh from the Soudan 

 to write of the conquest of the Khalifa, 

 and to scribble by the yard of Dervish 

 valour; but I have chosen for my 

 theme ''The Merry Gee-Gee," for is 

 not the love of a horse born in me 

 and grafted in my very nature ? As to 

 any claim to a knowledge of my subject, 

 have I not bred many, dealt in them 

 more or less since my school days, broken 

 hundreds, hunted in many countries both 

 fox and stag, owned and trained a few 

 winners and a good many losers, read 

 all the books relating to horses I could 

 ever lay hands on, gone broke, been 



