The next game was a much longer one.  It was the turn of the other party to hit off, for Kildare won the charge.  There were encounters of all kinds; twice the ball was sent over the line, but outside the goal, by long sweeping blows from Isaacs, who ever hovered on the edge of the scrimmage, and, by his good riding, and the help of a splendid pony, often had a chance where another would have had none.  At last it happened that I was chasing the ball back towards our goal, from one of his hits, and he was pursuing me.  I had the advantage of a long start, and before he could reach me I got in a heavy “backhander” that sent the ball far away to one side, where, as good luck would have it, Westonhaugh was waiting.  Quick as thought he carried it along, and in another minute we had scored a goal, amidst enthusiastic shouts from the spectators, who had been kept long in suspense by the protracted game.  This time it was to our side that the young girl came, riding up to her brother to congratulate him on his success.  I thought she had less colour as she came nearer, and though she smiled sweetly as she said, “It was splendidly played, John,” there was not so much enthusiasm in her voice as the said John, who had really won the game with masterly neatness, might have expected.  Then she sat quietly looking over the ground, while we dismounted from our ponies, breathless, and foaming, and lathery, from the hard-fought battle.  The grooms ran up with blankets and handfuls of grass to give the poor beasts a rub, and covering them carefully after removing the saddles, led them away.

The sun leaves Annandale early, and I put on a coat and lit a cigarette, while the saice saddled our second mounts.  There are few prettier sights than an English game, of any kind, on a beautiful stretch of turf.  The English live, and move and have their being out of doors.  A cricket-match, tennis, a racecourse, or a game of polo, show them at their greatest advantage, whether as players or spectators.  Their fresh complexions suit the green of the grass and of the trees as naturally as a bed of roses, or cyclamens, or any fresh and healthy flower will combine with the grass and the ferns in garden or glen.  The glorious vitality that belongs to their race seems to blossom freshly in the contact with their mother earth, and the physical capacity for motion with which nature endows them makes them graceful and fascinating to watch, when in some free and untrammelled dress of white they are at their games, batting and bowling and galloping and running; they have the same natural grace then as a herd of deer or antelopes; they are beautiful animals in the full enjoyment of life and vigour, of health and strength; they are intensely alive.  Something of this kind passed through my mind, in all probability, and, combined with the delightful sensation any strong man feels in the pause after great exertion, disposed me well towards my fellows and towards mankind at large.  Besides we had won the last game.