150 Life and Times of " The Druid!' 



knocked in as mine. There's your note- 

 book ; I see it come flying over my head. 

 That'll be your pencil in yon tuft of grass. 

 Deary me ! How Captain White would 

 a-laughed had he seen us ! This pimple's 

 bleeding on my nose ; it was stuck in the 

 ground, I don't know how deep. That'll 

 only be a graze on my eyebrow ; I'm bleed- 

 ing badly though. Just lead the horse, and 

 I'll get to the pond and give myself a wash, 

 and get you to give me a bit of a rub down. 

 It's a bad job trying these short cuts, except 

 you're on a horse ; we must keep it snug 

 when we gets back to Melton." 



It is evident from this and many other 

 passages that the two companions suited 

 each other to perfection. We owe it solely 

 to the laborious and painstaking activity 

 shown by " The Druid " in never missing 

 a chance of picking up interesting "copy," 

 that these "Lectures," embodying more than 

 can elsewhere be found about the earliest days 

 of steeplechasing, or, as it might more cor- 

 rectly be called, point to point riding, were 

 committed to paper for the amusement of 

 a large and varied assortment of sporting 



