i62 HOUND AND HORN 



desire for further fame that he accepted an invitation 

 to stay with friends in the end of the week for a 

 two-day west country meeting, where he had the 

 promise of one mount, with the prospect of more. 



On the Saturday evening, on my return from town 

 by the last train, a hieroglyphic scribble from Joanna 

 was handed to me. It took some time to decipher, 

 and made the startling announcement that the writer 

 was 'Agoing right through at once to nurse" — a 

 decision which was painfully explained by the accom- 

 panying telegram, which read, ^' Mr. Kerr has had a 

 heavy fall ; rather seriously crushed ; everything is 

 being done." 



A sleepless night of great anxiety followed, and 

 Sunday morning brought a telegram : '' Still uncon- 

 scious ; come." Now, Joanna was not an alarmist, 

 so it was with sore forebodings that I started for 

 the twelve-mile drive necessary to get the only 

 Sunday train at the main line station. Two hours of 

 a slow train, then a long wait, and a distressful cross- 

 country journey on a branch line, did not hearten one 

 up. Sick with suspense and misery, I got to the end 

 of the railway journey, obtaining some slight relief 

 by finding a dog-cart waiting. This had been sent 

 to meet a nurse who had come on by the same train. 



From the driver, an eye-witness of, and only too 

 willing to recount the grisly details, I obtained these 

 particulars. 



The course was rather hard, and the stewards 

 had put down tanned bark on both sides of some of 

 the fences, a proceeding of rather doubtful benefit, 

 as it caused some of the horses to overjump the 



