A.Y AFTER-DINNER SPORTSMAN. icg 



" All right ! " he feebly answers, and goes towards 

 the water ; but his pace gradually decreases, and the 

 mare, feeling" that he does not mean it, comes to a stop 

 at the brink. 



" Try again, she'll do it ! " Wynnerly shouts. Fluffyer, 

 however, shakes his head. 



" No ! There must be something w-rong with her. I 

 felt her going queerly a little way back. I'm afraid 

 she's hurt herself; " whereupon he slips from the saddle 

 and begins to feel the mare's legs with an affectation of 

 deep anxiety. Wynnerly grins, and the next moment 

 is on the other side of the brook. Scatterly promptly 

 jumps into the middle, while Downing and some of the 

 more cautious spirits go along the bank to a ford, of 

 whose existence Fluffyer was unaware. His mare 

 evidently wanted to follow, but he was bound to keep 

 up the imposture, and actually led her across the field 

 in the opposite direction to that in which we were 

 going. 



I am afraid that the events of the day gave no 

 opportunity for an entry in the book of big jumps. 



