160 TALES AND TRAITS OF SPORTING LIFE. 



lie'll ride to-daj, if there is anything- to ride at, or, better 

 still, any body to ride over. 



" And so he did, like a man, or ^^ like a madman," as the- 

 Major said, who settled it as temporary insanity at the' 

 second fence, where the 3'oung'-im knocked himself and his 

 horse throug'h the imjumpable park-paling-, and floored 

 some hundred yards of my lord's boundary-line in so 

 doing'. This, moreover, instead of bring-ing on " the case- 

 of funk," as the Major, in very charity, hoped it might, 

 onty had the effect of getting* his blood up the more ; 

 and straightway his majesty was sent, fearfully fast, at a 

 double post and rail, which he took in a most wonderful 

 *'fly;" though, as '^ a matter of business," it ought to 

 have been done at twice. They tell you, no man can 

 count on a run when he wants one, or expect two good 

 ones two days in succession. There is no rule, though, 

 without an exception; and this promised to beat the 

 Major's '^ most almighty" one all to fits. The Major 

 himself, even, may be beat as well j but, fortunately, is 

 still within sight as they come to the willows once more. 

 Fortune be thanked ! it's as wide as the Hellespont ; and 

 one man — the only man handy — has turned away from it 

 already. Not so King Pippin, who is driven straight on 

 b}^ a nerve and a heart as hard as iron. Go he must — but 

 not over ; with a fearful crash he chests the opposite 

 bank, while his imhappy pilot is llung, head over heels, 

 far on to the meadow. 



•' By G — d! the boy's broke his neck," exclaimed the 

 Major, pidling up short. 



" He's broke his horse's back — the young devil" — said 

 a whipper-in, who took a calmer and clearer view of the 

 case. 



It was a case for the kennels, instead of *' the case of 



