80 HUNTING RE^NIINISCENCES 



always full of the news, and proclaimed it in a 

 loud voice, so that half the field might know what 

 he was talking about. Starting life in the navy, 

 it had always been his ambition to hunt five days 

 a week in Leicestershire if riches would allow, and 

 the wherewithal coming to him in middle life, 

 he carried out his wish after retiring from the 

 service. His seat on a horse was a very loose one, 

 and he summed up his enjoyment by the number 

 of falls he took. " Capital day's sport, took five 

 falls, and enjoyed myself thoroughly!" was often 

 a remark he would make to Gillard as he shogged 

 home with him at dusk. On one occasion his 

 friend, Mr. "Banker" Hardy, said to him, 

 " INIicklethwaite, did you see how well Captain 

 'Doggy' Smith jumped that gate?" "Where, 

 where, tell me which gate," said the old gentle- 

 man, keen as mustard, as he turned his horse 

 back and sent him at the gate indicated, with 

 the result he cut every bar out of it. He once 

 said to Gillard, " ^ly friends say that I ought to 

 get married, what do you think about it, Frank ? " 

 "Well, sir, to speak from my experience of ten 

 years of married life, I think it is the best thing 

 that can happen to a man ! " " Well, Frank ! 

 you see you've probably got a wife who can sew 

 your shirt buttons on for you, or, for all I know, 

 can make a shirt. Now, if I married, it would be 

 to some fine lady who would want to spend £50 on 

 some Bond Street milliner's finery, and then where 

 would my hunting be ? No, Frank, I am better 

 single ! " The stories told about this cheery old 



