But I had little time to watch the hunt or to marvel at these islanders, for of all these mad creatures the very horse upon which I sat was the maddest.  You understand that he was himself a hunter, and that the crying of these dogs was to him what the call of a cavalry trumpet in the street yonder would be to me.  It thrilled him.  It drove him wild.  Again and again he bounded into the air, and then, seizing the bit between his teeth, he plunged down the slope and galloped after the dogs.  I swore, and tugged, and pulled, but I was powerless.  This English General rode his horse with a snaffle only, and the beast had a mouth of iron.  It was useless to pull him back.  One might as well try to keep a Grenadier from a wine bottle.  I gave it up in despair, and, settling down in the saddle, I prepared for the worst which could befall.

What a creature he was!  Never have I felt such a horse between my knees.  His great haunches gathered under him with every stride, and he shot forward ever faster and faster, stretched like a greyhound, while the wind beat in my face and whistled past my ears.  I was wearing our undress jacket, a uniform simple and dark in itself—­though some figures give distinction to any uniform—­and I had taken the precaution to remove the long panache from my busby.  The result was that, amidst the mixture of costumes in the hunt, there was no reason why mine should attract attention, or why these men, whose thoughts were all with the chase, should give any heed to me.  The idea that a French officer might be riding with them was too absurd to enter their minds.  I laughed as I rode, for, indeed, amid all the danger, there was something of comic in the situation.

I have said that the hunters were very unequally mounted, and so, at the end of a few miles, instead of being one body of men, like a charging regiment, they were scattered over a considerable space, the better riders well up to the dogs and the others trailing away behind.  Now, I was as good a rider as any, and my horse was the best of them all, and so you can imagine that it was not long before he carried me to the front.  And when I saw the dogs streaming over the open, and the red-coated huntsman behind them, and only seven or eight horsemen between us, then it was that the strangest thing of all happened, for I, too, went mad—­I, Etienne Gerard!  In a moment it came upon me, this spirit of sport, this desire to excel, this hatred of the fox.  Accursed animal, should he then defy us?  Vile robber, his hour was come!  Ah, it is a great feeling, this feeling of sport, my friends, this desire to trample the fox under the hoofs of your horse.  I have made the fox-chase with the English.  I have also, as I may tell you some day, fought the box-fight with the Bustler, of Bristol.  And I say to you that this sport is a wonderful thing—­full of interest as well as madness.