THE BATTLE 153 



serve the purpose of emphasizing the desirability of 

 cultivating the habit mentioned above. 



Perhaps Diana's young devotee is beginning to 

 snort with disgust about this time, and to say to 

 himself, " How can a man possibly think about all 

 this when hunting? " 



Of course he cannot. That is, he cannot think 

 about it all on the same day, but he can quite easily, 

 and without exerting himself sufficiently to be irk- 

 some, think of two or three of the points mentioned 

 each day he goes out. Then by degrees they all, 

 and many, many other things not mentioned, will 

 flash across his mind as naturally as it comes to him 

 to rise in his stirrups at a trot. 



Surely, when this comes about, he will be a good 

 way on the road to " acquiring the gift which 

 Kellermann naturally possessed " ? 



Thus thinking of what our reader is saying to 

 himself has driven us over the line a bit, just as 

 hounds are driven over the line when over-ridden, 

 and the natural and inevitable result is — a check. 



