CAPTAIN WARNER 99 



enjoying himself ; Mr. Gradwell, a temporary 

 visitor to the Shires, was having the ride of his 

 Ufe ; whilst Downes, rough-rider to Mr. Julius 

 Behrens and a superb horseman, was carving out a 

 route with his usual skill. Each rode his own line 

 and took his fences as fate presented them. After 

 crossing the Hose-Clawson Road, hounds bore 

 somewhat to the left, and shortly afterwards 

 another road was encountered. 



First one and then the other of the four would 

 gain a slight advantage, but there was nothing in it. 

 My good fortune enabled me to beat the others into 

 the second road by a few lengths, and I marked 

 my place out — the only place in a bullfinch. 

 Whilst I was on the left the others were to the right 

 of the pack, and before them the bullfinch became 

 a low cut hedge. My joy and pride at the position 

 I had secured met with the reverse it deserved, 

 and I was doomed for the remainder of the gallop 

 to a back seat. 



At the moment my horse was about to jump 

 out of the road, a hound slipped back into the ditch, 

 which was both deep and steep. The two or three 

 attempts to climb up before she succeeded could 

 only have occupied a few seconds at the most, but 

 it was sufficient to lose me my place, and I was 

 thenceforth a good half field behind Capt. " Roddy " 

 to Piper Hole Gorse. I think there was a slight 

 element of competitive jealousy in the air that day, 

 and the desire to be first into every field was very 

 marked. 



There was a lot of frost in January, and very 

 little hunting, but a partial thaw during the last 

 week gave hounds a chance of being taken out. 



