150 THE BEST OF THE FUN 



might be doing. Now and then Mr. Roby on Brunette 

 would land over a fence beside me, or glance lightly over 

 the next one ahead, the little mare bounding into space 

 like a springbok ; or Mr Cottenet (huntsman of The 

 Meadowbrook) would race by upon a grey thoroughbred, 

 said to be almost new to the game now being played. 

 A natural faculty, truly, and superadded to a liberal 

 development thereof at home, should a horse possess be- 

 fore essaying the unbreakable country in question. Many 

 a green young one have I pushed over, or through, the 

 varied hinderments of our green Midlands ; and derived 

 great fun and sport from the process. But nothing short 

 of a pension should induce me to ride a novice upon Long 

 Island. My one visit has enabled me to realise that a 

 horse of great jumping power, complete education, and 

 unswerving courage may be a very safe conveyance, and 

 may treat you, moreover, to a sensation as delightful as it 

 is novel. But five-foot timber that is no more likely to 

 break than the mainmast of this good ship — my present 

 mount over a yet rougher country — is about the last form 

 of exercise I should set for the schooling of the youngster, 

 with any hope of his carrying himself and me through — 

 i.e. to the end of the run. What say you ? And what 

 say you if those iive-foot rails be into a road, with a drop 

 of a couple of feet on landing ? And how would you 

 expect a young one to recover himself in time to go out 

 again, by doubling over a trench by the roadside, and 

 striking off a weed-grown bank to clear timber of nearly 

 equal height beyond — and the whole width of the road 

 being little more than three horses' lengths. He didn't ! 

 But it was the grey's only mistake, beyond rapping his 

 legs raw in half-a-dozen places. 



All this had taken place in about a quarter of an hour, 

 during which we had been galloping steadily, and jumping, 

 it seemed to me, incessantly. " Titus' fences," I am told, is 

 the Hunt designation of the district— or rather of Mr Titus' 

 system of subdivision. Whether Titus be emperor, farmer, 

 repubHcan, or democrat, I had no opportunity of inquiring ; 

 but his style of fence-making is, I made bold to assert, 

 nothing less than imperial, and I commend it with all 



