Social and Convivial Aspects 73 



the door (who happened to be Irish), a bright inspiration 

 flashed through his mind. 



"Officer," he said politely, "my hunter has — hie — run 

 away from me, has in fact — hie — basely deserted me. 

 Do you happen to have — hie — taken him in charge ? ,: 



" Be jabers and I have, sor," responded the other, who 

 had caught the horse, " and I've taken the wrong 'un in 

 charge after all. It's you I want." .... Those spurs 

 flew down the lane. 



Again : An elderly City gentleman had begun to hunt 

 with the Old Surrey with indomitable enthusiasm after 

 having spent the best part of his life in what he called 



" a d d mechanical round." He was not a brilliant 



rider, but had plenty of pluck, and once essayed to clear 

 some high rails. Flying them with a large margin, his 

 hunter threw him over his head, and as he lay on his 

 back in the next field a friend, who had not seen the 

 incident, asked him whether his horse had made a mistake. 



" Not a bit of it," replied the prostrate sportsman, still 

 undaunted ; " he jumped all right, as cleverly as possible, 

 but" — and the speaker wiped the mud off his face — " / 

 jumped fir st T 



On another occasion the same hero was riding home 

 (after a glorious kill in the open with a pad in his pocket) 

 rather late at night ; he was accompanied by several 

 convivial friends who had enjoyed the run exceedingly. 

 Their spirits were high, and they trotted along smartly, 

 talking about the day's fine gallop, and the " raspers " 

 they had negotiated without putting a foot wrong. 



