202 Memoir of Tom Smith. 



but the most severe accident that ever befell 

 him was not in the hunting-field, but at the 

 Eotley railT\^ay station. He arrived there one 

 evening from London, and it being very dark, 

 he did not perceive that the train had stopped 

 before reaching the platform. On stepping 

 out, he fell, his shoulders coming heavily on 

 the further rails, and he was taken up sense- 

 less. Eecovering a little, he was laid on the 

 floor of the carriage, and conveyed to Bishop's 

 Waltham, when he insisted on being placed 

 in his rough pony-carriage and taken home, 

 knowing from experience that the motion 

 would prevent the blood congealing. The 

 doctor thought that both his collar-bones were 

 broken ; and so they were, but that had been 

 in hunting years before. This accident con- 

 fined him to the house for three months. 



One remarkable accident occurred to him 

 in his seventy-fifth year, which may be no- 

 ticed here, although it is not the last that has 

 befallen him. The homids were running a 



