190 SKETCHES IN THE HUNTING FIEID. 



took up one stirrup to a degree that brought my knee 

 into close proximity with my waistcoat, The Sultan 

 meanwhile exhibiting an uncertainty of temperament 

 which caused me very considerable anxiety. Luckily I 

 had presence of mind to say that he had shortened the 

 leather too much, and there was not much difference be- 

 tween the two, when, with Laura and some seven com- 

 panions, I started down the avenue in front of the house. 



The fundamental principles of horsemanship are three : 

 keep your heels down ; stick in your knees ; and try to 

 look as if you liked it. So I am informed, and I am at a 

 loss to say which of the three is the most difficult of 

 execution. The fact that The Sultan started jerkily 

 some little time before I was ready to begin, thereby 

 considerably deranging such plans as I was forming for 

 guidance, is to be deplored ; for my hat was not on very 

 firmly, and it was extremely awkward to find a hand to 

 restore it to its place when it displayed a tendency to 

 come over my eyes. Conversation under these circum- 

 stances is peculiarly difficult ; and I fear that Laura 

 found my remarks somewhat curt and strangely punc- 

 tuated. The Sultan's behaviour, however, had become 

 meritorious to a high degree ; and I was just beginning to 

 think that hunting was not so many degrees worse than 

 the treadmill when we approached the scene of action. 



Before us, as we rounded a turning in the road, a 

 group of some thirty horsemen, to which fresh accessions 

 were constantly being made, chatted together and 

 watched a hilly descent to the right, down which the pack 



