AN INCORRIGIBLE UNIONIST 195 



qualities. There, with every eye fastened on him, he 

 rejoices as a giant to run his course, bold, resource- 

 ful, and fulfilled with that enthusiasm that he 

 squanders so lavishly in the chase. That intellectual 

 countenance of his is set towards his old friends, 

 the bank and the stone wall, taking their measure 

 with practised eyes and pricked ears, as he comes at 

 them over the dainty grass ; he seizes the tall bank, 

 poises on it like an acrobat, and as he kicks it from 

 him is already making up his mind about the stone 

 wall that follows on it. Over the stones he enjoys 

 himself with less reserve than is demanded by that 

 excellent piece of brainwork, the negotiation of the 

 bank, but he does not forget the final upward fling of 

 the hind legs to avoid the dislodging of a stone. 

 Bank, water-jump, and hurdle follow, but water-jump 

 and hurdle are tame after bank and wall, and do not 

 exhibit the higher qualities of the artist in horse or 

 rider. TOien a horse, in his eagerness, took off too 

 soon and pecked heavily upon the bank, his rider most 

 justifiably lost his stirrups, and every face followed 

 tlie problem of whether or not he would recover them 

 before the wall was reached. The pulling horse 

 fought for his head, and spread himself mightily over 

 the stones; the rider, stirrupless but unshaken, lay 

 back to the big lift, and a " Ha ! " of skilled approval 

 broke hard and simultaneous from the oval frame of 

 spectators. It was somewhere here, while the pairs 

 of competitors charged their fences, and the horses 

 waiting for their turn danced like thistledown in the 

 background, that lines by one of our own poets drifted 

 back to me — 



" So bold and frank his bearing, boy, 

 Did you meet him onward faring, boy, 

 In Lapland's snow or Chili's glow. 

 You'd say, ' What news from Erin, boy ? ' " 



