156 TALES AND TRAITS OF SPORTING LIFE. 



too, was just a trifle egotistical in liis liistoiyr Like 

 Clii'istoplier North's, liis recreations were nothing- but 

 what self did or self thought. / took a pull at the grej 

 mare here ; and the grey mare hopped over it there ; and 

 /and the grey mare were going just like oil — " 



" Well but^ Major, how did my boy go ?" 



The Major opened his eyes and filled his glass— said 

 nothing, and expressed, in very pretty pantomime, that he 

 knew as much. 



The governor, however, pressed hard for the facts ; the 

 old man must live again in the young one ; and, perhaps, 

 after all, Georgy's horse may have eclipsed the grey mare, 

 though the Major be loth to own it. " Come, tell us how 

 Jie did go ?" 



How could the Major tell about the going of one who 

 didn't go at all .'* 



Patience and the gout are seldom very intimate ; and 

 the Major's mystery anything but added to his host's 

 ease. "D — n it! out with it. What's wrong? What 

 really was the case ?" 



"Well then, old gentleman, it was a case of funk. 

 King Pippin pulled round at Exton-brook." 



** What ! the old horse refuse it ? Never !" 



^' No— not the old horse exactly, but the 3'oung jockey . 

 A case of funk, sir. Master Georgy must take a little 

 more wine before he'll take water." 



And the Major helped himself again, with the air and 

 look of a man who never refused one or the other — in 

 their proper places. 



To an old "shelved" sportsman, about the greatest 

 pleasure is to see his son playing a good part in those 

 pursuits at which he himself was once so famous. How- 

 ever good the school reports, or however high the 



