HORSEMANSHIP 129 



" capped " me for two guineas with averted 

 eyes that spoke eloquently of his outraged feel- 

 ings, and utterly declined to listen to my 

 apologies. Since that day I have taken the 

 greatest care that my costume should never 

 offend the most scrupulous member of the hunt. 

 After all, what is a varicose vein or two in the 

 calf of the leg compared with the delight to be 

 derived from the consciousness of being appro- 

 priately garbed ? 



Hunting is, of course, essentially a pastime 

 for the physically fit, and as the years advance 

 I find myself less and less able to indulge in it. 

 In my old age, indeed, I confine myself almost 

 exclusively to what is known as " Hunting by 

 Train," a sport that I can confidently recom- 

 mend to the most timorous of my readers. 



Whenever I travel in a first-class carriage 

 from one part of England to another, instead of 

 reading the papers or falling fast asleep over a 

 book, as so many men make a practice of doing, 

 I keep my eye glued to the window, and in 

 imagination follow a pack of hounds across a 

 line of country running parallel to the railway. 



In this way I have often run for forty minutes 

 without a check, jumping the various brooks and 

 fences that presented themselves to my vision 

 in a manner that gave me the most intense 

 delight and, would have surprised my friends. 



9 



