i64 HOUND AND HORN 



Sitting up till the small hours for a report of 

 any change in his condition, all the bright days that 

 Bill and I had had together ran in review through 

 my mind, and I saw him always good-natured, always 

 cheery, always unselfish ; proud of any small achieve- 

 ment of our little pack and jealous of its good name ; 

 with a keen appreciation of all the wholesome and 

 natural joys that rational sport brings, and a power 

 of enjoyment, and a love of life, and a hold on it 

 exhibited by few : while oftener than all the other 

 pictures that passed, was the one of that glorious 

 September morning when we killed our first fox, and 

 rode home through the shimmering hills, and when 

 the talk turned upon the risks of hunting and he 

 had said, " Anything but that ! " 



The morning report was *' No change," and the con- 

 sulting surgeon had diagnosed concussion of the brain 

 and of the spinal cord, with a fractured pelvis, and he 

 nearly made us all break down by saying, " It won't 

 be immediate." 



On Monday afternoon I went home. The telegram 

 of Wednesday morning said : '' Conscious now, but 

 not out of danger ; asking for you." I went through 

 late on Wednesday night and found him very low, 

 very restless with his arms, but not able to move his 

 legs, and I was not allowed to see him. 



On Thursday, the local doctor, a hearty man and a 

 thorough sportsman, declared his opinion that ^' with 

 the help of your good lady's nursing and his own 

 constitution and pluck, there is a faint chance of my 

 pulling him through." 



Next morning I was allowed to see him, but he only 

 pressed my hand slightly, and his smile ended in a 



