190 How I Became a Sportsmax. 



also shot a good many for different friends, 

 who asked me to do so, not because they 

 thought I hked the job, but because they felt 

 sure I should do it without making a mess 

 of it. 



My pocket was never a very large one, and 

 therefore I preferred horses of the " have been " 

 sort, that is to say, horses of figure and char- 

 acter, perhaps one that has carried " my lord," 

 the " Hon. Crasher," or " young Rapid," and 

 made his mark in the shires, but had become 

 somewhat too slow or too sticky for such first- 

 flight customers, or perhaps one that had been 

 scored in a place or two, or might be fired all 

 round or otherwise blemished ; and although 

 out of such horses a great deal of work may 

 be got, and a great deal of sport seen, still 

 they are not the horses men ride who can 

 afford to give their two to three (or even 

 more) hundred guineas for. I will take a 

 horse that has had his maybe five or six 

 seasons in such first-rate and brilliant com- 

 pany, but is now to be given up. I am on 

 the look-out for such an animal, and I get 

 him for, say, forty to fifty guineas ; he will 

 carry me to hounds, with good riding, careful 



