242 REMINISCENCES OF 



glass of whisky and a bit of ginger-bread. I met 

 Jim with "Delicate" and "Constance". As I 

 passed him his horse, " Staniforth," swung round and 

 hit my knee-cap with the point of his hip bone, and 

 broke it into three pieces. I had my mouth full 

 of ginger-bread, and I did not drop it. It did 

 not hurt very much, and my breeches were very 

 tight with the wet. When I got to Saline I 

 got off, coupled the two hounds together, and sent 

 Jim to the kennels at Torry. When I got to 

 Pitfirrane I got off at the stable, walked to the 

 house and upstairs, got a hot bath, and heard my 

 knee-cap crackle. I sent down to Arthur Halkett 

 and said, " Arthur, I have broke my knee-cap ". 

 He said, " Gammon, you could not walk if you had ". 

 I said, " Put your ringer on here and feel ". He did 

 so and felt it move, and said, " Go to bed and I'll 

 send for the doctor ". I went to bed, had a cup of 

 tea, and fell fast asleep. Dr. Dewar arrived, and 

 said, " If you want to get home you must go directly, 

 for you won't be able to move to-morrow". It was 

 raining hard and blowing a hurricane. I said, " I 

 am in a good billet, so I will stay still ". He tied 

 my leg to a board, the edge of which made my leg 

 very sore. 



My wife came to Pitfirrane, and on second 

 November Lord Rosslyn sent his "dormeuse" 

 carriage for me. I did not get out again till the 

 1 5th December. I was very shy of anything touch- 

 ing my knee for a long time and wore a thick pad 

 over it ; eventually it got quite well. 



