16 THE MASTER OF THE HOUNDS. 



his company. Now for the brook, Gwynne. A sovereign, 

 Markham is in it for one, and Coventry for another; they 

 never can go at water." 



Sir Francis here passed them at a furious pace, going at the 

 brook forty miles an hour, and, with a cheer, landed safely 

 over. " Now Captain Markham," he cried, " come along ! " and 

 souse went the guardsman into the stream. 



" Hah ! hah ! my boy ! " shouted the baronet ; " pleasant 

 and cool, I hope, and all that sort of thing ! Good bye, Cap- 

 tain, and mind you don't drink too hard." 



" Demn that old crack-jawed fallow I " chattered the Cap- 

 tain, with drawn breath, and teeth rattling like castanets ; " but 

 I'll be the death of that fire-eater, if ever I get on his track 

 again." 



Fred Beauchamp, although laughing ready to split his sides, 

 gave the Captain's horse a lifting hand, and they were soon 

 again on terra firma. " Thank' e, Fred," said Markham ; " I'll 

 do the same for you another time ; but demmit all, I'll ride in 

 the wake of that Leicestershire hero, and knock him over the 

 very first fence we meet together." 



" Easier said than done, Markham, for he's going at a trim- 

 ming pace now." 



" Then here goes to catch him." And away they rattled. 



It is needless to relate the various casualties that occurred 

 over four miles of stiff enclosures, which the hounds traversed 

 at such a pace that none but their huntsmen and two whippers- 

 in were ever near them, till they reached a large woodland 

 called the Holt, where all hoped for some little respite to their 

 blown horses ; but in vain ; the gallant fox held on his course, 

 going straight through this line of coverts, reaching nearly 

 three miles in extent, and again bravely faced the open. The 

 heavy, sticky nature of the soil in the drives (being a yellow 

 clay) told fearful tales on the already^ distressed horses, whose 

 riders still pushed them along, there being no fences to impede 

 their progress. 



" Holloa, Bob ! " cried Vernon, who was riding behind him, 

 " you've lost a shoe." 



" Nothing more likely, Dick ; but if I had lost all four, in- 

 stead of one, there's no time for repairs, for I hear the horn 

 again to the left, and the hounds are away." 



"And where now, Conyers ? " inquired the Captain; "not 

 across another brook, I hope 1 " 



"Even so, Markham — the forest is his point, some six 



