148 THE SPORT OF KINGS 



hunting without any knowledge of practical 

 horsemanship ; they have doubtless plenty of 

 pluck to get them into difficulties, but they lack 

 the fine hands and coolness by which many a 

 man gets out of difficulties scathless. A fine 

 horseman may, and frequently does, get a nasty 

 fall, even when riding a made horse, but he is 

 not so frequently hurt as is the man to whom I 

 have just alluded. 



But there is a danger in the hunting field which 

 could easily be removed, a danger, too, which is 

 fast increasing, and which is of so serious a nature 

 that it is really a wonder that there is not more 

 disaster than there is. Look at any field when 

 hounds go away from a covert. You will see men 

 go in a harum-scarum fashion, their horses all 

 abroad and themselves more so, intent on only one 

 object, viz. to pass some one who is in front of 

 them. What care they for the men whose horses 

 they knock out of their stride and into the fence ? 

 What care they over whom they ride or on to whom 

 they jump ? Their selfish object must be attained, 

 and when their turn comes, as come it generally 

 does in the end, they are the loudest in their com- 

 plaints. Here is an account of some preventable 

 accidents. In one instance a gentleman's horse 

 fell on the far side of a drain ; a reckless man riding 

 in his wake knocked him down as he was rising, 

 his horse catching him on the head ; the result was 

 the unfortunate man was carried from the field 

 unconscious, that concussion of the brain took 

 place, and he has not yet fully recovered. The 

 other case was even worse. A gentleman fell over 

 a fence. It was in a country where there was 

 plenty of room, and there was not the slightest 



