360 SPORTING STORIES 



the round-shot were striking pretty thickly, still smoking his 

 cigar, as if he were taking his morning exercise. A few 

 shots had previously plunged into the column, causing the 

 excitement which always happens when horses get knocked 

 over; but the calm indifference of this officer, and the 

 manner in which he appeared altogether to ignore the 

 existence of danger, had a capital effect upon the men," 



Lord Wolseley did not give the name of the officer, but 

 I have been told that it was " Bob " Wood, sometime 

 Colonel of the 8th Hussars. 



Lord Roberts, after his great campaign in Afghanistan, 

 declared that one of the most valuable Staff officers in 

 the British Army was Lord Melgund (the present Earl 

 of Minto), who had few equals in those days as a cross- 

 country rider. 



The late Earl of Wilton, one of the finest horsemen ever 

 seen, heard the great Duke of Wellington remark that 

 " England would rue the day when her field-sports were 

 abandoned," and that " his best officers were those who had 

 most distinguished themselves in the hunting- field." 



The " Iron Duke " himself was a keen lover of the sport, 

 and a hard rider. He kept fifteen horses, and paid high 

 prices for them ; and when one reads of so much gallop- 

 ing to and fro one is not surprised at the number of the 

 Duke's stud. 



Here is an extract from the journal of Mr Larpent, Judge- 

 Advocate of the Forces, which illustrates the tireless energy 

 and the keen sportsmanship of the Duke : — 



" Lord Wellington is quite well again, and was out 

 hunting on Thursday. To-day he was to set out at seven 

 in the morning for the review of General Cole's division, 

 about twenty-eight miles from here, be on the ground about 

 ten, and back to dinner by four or five o'clock. He has a 

 notion that exercise makes headquarters more healthy than 

 the rest of the Army, and that the hounds are one great 

 cause of this." 



Of these hounds Mr Larpent writes : — " We have three 

 odd packs of hounds here. Firstly, Lord Wellington's, or, 

 as he is called here, ' the Peer's ' ; these are fox-hounds, 

 about sixteen couples ; they have only killed one fox this 



