TEMPERATE HUNTEHS. 191 



you drop your fore-feet neatly and firmly on the turf; 

 a second after and your hind shoes kiss the ground, and, 

 at the same instant, your fore-legs are stretched out for 

 the first of a series of delightful bounds over this wide- 

 sweeping meadow, after which you shall charge that 

 stone wall, which lies right in your front. Here it is, 

 my boy ; a trifle higher than the sod bank j but you 

 have measured it by your eyes I can tell by the work- 

 ing of your beautiful ears. Hoo-roo ! Oh, how I like 

 you! 



!Now for the water-jump at the bottom of this gentle 

 slope. Whew ! you bird on the wing ! I never felt 

 you fly over this, but I can feel you galloping as strong 

 as a castle under me. I glance my eye down your 

 fore-arm, as you bend your well- formed neck and heady 

 which playfully answers to the gentle supporting feel 

 of my hands, and I can perceive the prominent muscles 

 of your fore- arm stand out like a piece of the twisted 

 coils of the Atlantic telegraph cable, and you are neither 

 blowing nor sweating ; your eye is as bright as a dia- 

 mond, and your coat shines like a mirror, your condi- 

 tion is perfect, and it is a pleasure to ride you, because 

 I know that I am not distressing you. But here we 

 are at this side the stiff blackthorn bullfinch, higher 

 than yourself, with not a ray of daylight to be seen 

 through it. Your ears play, and your head nods, and 

 again I know that you will top it. " Yoi-over !" I say, 

 as you leave the ground like a full-grown grasshopper, 

 and suspend me and yourself with your four legs 



