42 MEMOIR OF 



Their selection was soon made ; Jackson 

 choosing a big thorough-bred chestnut, with 

 sloping shoulders, flat hocks, and rare sinewy 

 thighs ; while Russell, fixed on a well-known 

 horse called "Charlie," which, though "speech- 

 less in one eye," Austin declared "could see 

 a weak place in a bullfinch better than ever 

 a horse in his stable." 



Accordingly, on the day before the meet, 

 Charlie and the chestnut, ridden by a couple of 

 grooms, were duly "sent on" to the Chequers 

 Inn, there to rest for the night, the stables of 

 that hostelry being only at a short distance from 

 the cover-side ; while in the morning, if Russell 

 and his friend had been mounted on two fierv 

 dragons, they could scarcely have been carried 

 through the air with more speed and impetuosity 

 than by the two raw-boned hacks which, ewe- 

 necked and clean as Eclipse in their pasterns, 

 bore them to the meet in so short a time. 



But, could they have anticipated the fruit- 

 lessness of their haste, they might have spared 

 the poor brutes' legs, and their own pockets at 

 the same time ; for the roads were hard as iron, 

 and no hounds had as yet arrived. In fact, a 

 keen north wind had set in at daybreak, and 

 although a goodly company had mustered at 

 the cover-side, a feeling of mistrust prevailed, 

 that unless a speedy change took place, hunting 

 would be out of the question for that day. 



