HUNTING ACCIDENTS 149 



occasion to be riding in his line even. Yet one of 

 the reckless ones galloped madly on, jumped the 

 fence, his horse landing with both forefeet on the 

 unfortunate man who was down. The result was 

 that he got a broken collar-bone and several ribs 

 knocked off, and was in an altogether helpless con- 

 dition. You would naturally think the guilty one 

 would have pulled up and done what he could for 

 the man he had injured. But no : he must keep 

 his place at any cost, and he galloped on and left 

 him. Fortunately his plight was noticed, and he 

 was attended to by some good Samaritans, but so 

 far as the man who did the mischief was concerned 

 he might have lain there till now. If I had been 

 the Master of that particular pack of hounds I 

 should have felt inclined, on his next making his 

 appearance at one of my fixtures, to request him to 

 withdraw or I would take hounds home. Such a 

 man is a danger to every one in the hunting field, 

 and his room is certainly preferable to his company. 

 The other accident to which I allude is that which 

 happened to a well-known Master of Hounds, 

 who was so severely kicked on his making his first 

 appearance after a prolonged absence due to an 

 accident, that he had to leave the field. This kind 

 of accident is preventable, and on the subject of 

 kickers every practical man will endorse the opinion 

 of Captain M. Horace Hayes, who says, " The 

 presence of the orthodox danger signal in the form 

 of a red bow on the animal's tail is no excuse for 

 bringing into a large field of horses a brute which 

 will resent being touched behind." Finally, if men 

 would be more considerate of others, if they would 

 take their own line and avoid " cutting in " and 

 jumping on their friends, there would be a 



