s will of me. And you can bet your stud and gear, I gave him the
best I had, for the sheer love of him, and him so near the likes of me
dear Sir Pat.

"Nor was me work to go unvalued, for, to me great delight, he bought me
and brought me to the States--straight away to Lemon County--along with
two of me huntmates he fancied. And a sweet country I found this same
Lemon County, with timber and stone nigh as stiff, and sod as sound as
old Roscommon's own.

"But troubles lay ahead of me I'd not foreseen. Instead of goin' into
Jack's private string, as I'd hoped, the early record I made for close
finishes and safe, sure work made me wanted by the chief patron of the
hunt, a New York multi-railroad-aire with a well diviloped habit of
gettin' everything he goes after. So, while I venture to believe Jack
hated to part with me, the patron got me.

"And a good man up the patron himself proved, one I'd always be proud
enough to carry; but, as Jack used to say, the hell of it was the Lemon
County Hunt numbered more bunglin' duffers than straight riders, the
sort a youngster or a hot-head would be sure to kill.

"So when, as often happened, the patron was busy with faster runs and a
hotter 'worry' than our hunt afforded, it frequently fell to me lot to
carry the half-broke of all ages, seldom a one bridle wise to our game,
as sure to pull me at the take-off of a leap as to give me me head on a
run through heavy mud, the sort no horse could carry and finish
dacently with except by takin' the bit in his teeth and himself makin'
the runnin'. And even so, it was a tough task fightin' their rotten
heavy hands and loose seat! But, by the glory of old Roscommon, never
once have I been down in me eight years with the Lemons!

"Once, to be sure, on me first run, by the way, I slashed into one of
your brutal wire fences, the first I'd ever seen--looked a filmy thing
you could smash right through--caught a shoe in it, and nigh wrenched a
shoulder blade in two. Sure, I never lost me feet, but it laid me up a
few days; and you can gamble any odds you like no wire has ever caught
me since; and, more, that I now hold record as the only horse in the
County that takes wire as readily as timber, where it's
necessary--though sure it is I'll dodge for timber every time where I
won't lose too much in place.

"Down they come to Lemon County, a lot of those New York beauties, men
and women, togged out so properly you'd think they'd spent thei