XI.— HUNTING ENJOYMENT 



One of the greatest pleasures of my life has been 

 found in the hunting-field, and I began to enjoy 

 that sport at an early age. When my brother 

 William and I were at school at Leatherhead our 

 father used to send us a couple of ponies from 

 Epsom about once a week, so that we might 

 have a day with the foxhounds ; and I need 

 scarcely say that those were absolutely red-letter 

 days in our calendar. What we could not jump 

 in the excitement of the chase we squeezed 

 through somehow ; not infrequently we tumbled 

 over ; the idea of stopping was repulsive. It was 

 an enchanting exercise. Of course, as everybody 

 knows, Surrey is not the Shires, but for a small 

 boy on a pony that can go a bit hunting any- 

 where, with hounds in view and a fox in front, is 

 an inexpressible felicity. To be in at the death, 

 too, after riding hard from start to finish as if it 

 were a sprint race downhill with a prize for every 

 runner ! — what can exceed that happiness ? For, 



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