THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 45 



another house, where all sorts of fun was going on ; but I 

 could have no enjoyment ; I thought only of my poor 

 young horse. It is, however, time to finish my story. 

 The following day was Sunday, and I told Pritchard not 

 to call me till ten. However, I grew fidgety ; so rang my 

 bell at nine, and asked if there were any tidings from 

 Hungerton ? ' Yes, sir,' said Pritchard, ' Richards and 

 the helper returned home last night, after you were gone 

 to bed.' ' How was that ? ' I inquired. ' Brilliant n;as 

 dead, sir, before they reached the house." 'Shut the door, 

 said I hastily, ' and don't come near me till twelve.' I 

 had a good mind to have made a vow never to have hunted 

 again." l 



At the conclusion, a dead silence was observed for a 

 minute or two : it was first broken by Mr. Egerton, who 

 had listened with the deepest attention. " I suppose, Mr. 

 Somerby," he said, "the scene you have been describing 

 is one of unusual occurrence ? " 



"You mean the death of my horse," replied Mr. 

 Somerby. 



" Not merely that," resumed Mr. Egerton. "It appears 

 to me strange that the word sport, which means diversion, 

 or pleasure, can be applied to the details of the day which 

 you have so minutely described. Here were upwards of 

 a hundred gentlemen assembled, at an immense expense, 

 hoping, no doubt, to enjoy the diversion of hunting a fox ; 

 but, by your account, not a tenth part were able to partake 

 of it ; for not more than that number saw a hound after 

 the first ten minutes, and those at prodigious peril to their 

 lives, great suffering to their horses, and, in your own 

 case, at the cost of a noble animal's life, and two hundred 

 guineas as well." 



" You have hit my friend hard, Mr. Egerton," observed 

 Sir William. " I shall listen anxiously to his defence." 



" You know we are no fox-hunters at Amstead, Mr. 

 Somerby," said Mr. Raby, wishing to put his visitor at his 

 ease ; " we only blow our horses now and then with the 

 harriers ; and my reverend friend there has never even 

 gone that length.'' 



" Yes, papa, but we do more than that sometimes," ex- 

 claimed Frank (Andrew had quitted the room, and gone 



1 The reader may recollect a description, somewhat resembling 

 this, of a run over Leicestershire ; but it is lawful for an author 

 to take a leaf out of his own book. 



