med to be black, and harsh, and hard. His nose was
well-formed and prominent; but of cheeks he had apparently none.
Between his whiskers and his nose, and the corners of his mouth,
there was nothing but two hollow cavities. He was somewhat over six
feet high, but from his extraordinary thinness gave the appearance
of much greater height. His arms were long, and the waistcoat which
he wore was always long; his breeches were very long; and his boots
seemed the longest thing about him--unless his spurs seemed longer.
He had no flesh about him, and it was boasted of him that, in spite
of his length, and in spite of his height, he could ride under twelve
stone. Of himself, and of his doings, he never talked. They were
secrets of his own, of which he might have to make money. And no one
had a right to ask him questions. He did not conceive that it would
be necessary for a gentleman to declare his weight unless he were
about to ride a race. Now it was understood that for the last ten
years Black Daly had ridden no races.

He was a man of whom it might be said that he never joked. Though
his life was devoted in a peculiar manner to sport, and there may be
thought to be something akin between the amusements and the lightness
of life, it was all serious to him. Though he was bitter over it, or
happy; triumphant, or occasionally in despair--as when the money was
not forthcoming--he never laughed. It was all serious to him, and
apparently sad, from the first note of a hound in the early covert,
down to the tidings that a poor fox had been found poisoned near his
earth. He had much to do to find sport for the county on such limited
means, and he was always doing it.

He not only knew every hound in his pack, but he knew their ages,
their sires, and their dams; and the sires and the dams of most of
their sires and dams. He knew the constitution of each, and to what
extent their noses were to be trusted. "It's a very heavy scent
to-day," he would say, "because Gaylap carries it over the plough.
It's only a catching scent because the drops don't hang on the
bushes." His lore on all such matters was incredible, but he would
never listen to any argument. A man had a right to his own opinion;
but then the man who differed from him knew nothing. He gave out his
little laws to favoured individuals; not by way of conversation,
for which he cared nothing, but because it might be well that the
favoured individual should know the truth on tha