H tenting with Hounds, 375 



After one meet, at Sagamore Hill, I had the curiosity 

 to o-o on foot over the course we had taken, measuring 

 the jumps ; for it is very difficult to form a good estimate 

 of a fence's height when in the field, and five feet of 

 timber seems a much easier thing to take when sitting 

 around the fire after dinner than it does when actually 

 faced while the hounds are running. On the particular 

 hunt in question we ran about ten miles, at a rattling 

 pace, with only two checks, crossing somewhat more than 

 sixty fences, most of them post-and-rails, stiff as steel, the 

 others being of the kind called "Virginia" or snake, 

 and not more than ten or a dozen in the whole lot under 

 four feet in height. The highest measured five feet and 

 half an inch, two others were four feet eleven, and nearly 

 a third of the number averaged about four and a half. 

 There were also several rather awkward doubles. When 

 the hounds were cast off some forty riders were present, 

 but the first fence was a savage one, and stopped all who 

 did not mean genuine hard going. Twenty-six horses 

 crossed it, one of them ridden by a lady. A mile or so 

 farther on, before there had been a chance for much tail- 

 ino-, we came to a five-bar gate, out of a road — a jump 

 of just four feet five inches from the take-off. Up to this, 

 of course, we went one at a time, at a trot or hand-gallop, 

 and twenty-five horses cleared it in succession without a 

 sino-le refusal and with but one mistake. Owing to the se- 

 verity of the pace, combined with the average height of the 

 timber (although no one fence was of phenomenally note- 

 worthy proportions), a good many falls took place, result- 



