84 SPORTING REMINISCENCES 



Nothing was too big for him in his day ; he has 

 no good horses now, only three year olds. 



A man from Galway Hunt came here a long time 

 ago and was introduced to Mat as a noted hunter. 



Mat only nodded his head. 



" Whin the dogs break away," he said, " let 

 ye take the Est road an' I'll take the Wesht road 

 an' we'U see which of us is the betther man." 



Mat — that is not his name — proved that for 

 that hunt he was. 



Someone asked him one time how he saw so 

 many hunts, and Mat grinned contemptuously. 



" There is but one way to ride a hunt," he said 

 — " When the dogs goes away let ye ride out 

 either to the Est or the Wesht of thim an' take 

 the finces as they come at you." 



He told me one day that the Major'd need a 

 very ondipendint horse for he ran a coorse of his 

 own. 



Ondipendint is a favourite word of Mat's. In 

 his very hard riding days he took out a raw four 

 year old which refused and left him behind. 



Mat looked exceedingly bitter when he was 

 asked where he had been. 



" When I took him his own coorse didn't he 

 refuse with me," he grunted. " An' then an' I 

 left alone he was nosin' everythin'. I tell ye, 

 ye'd need a very ondipendint horse to go an 

 unsighted hunt." 



I bought a very wonderful mare from him, but 



