RIDING TO HOUNDS 17 



danger. A gap, the first well established ' Shuffler's hole ' we 

 have come across, smiles wide -mouthed in front, when he sud- 

 denly diverges sharply to the left, and goes faster than usual at 

 what is certainly the next best place, but a forbidding lonely 

 looking spot in a bullfinch notwithstanding, his head slightly 

 bent and right arm raised athwart his face ; the faint swish of 

 the thorns as they close behind him, followed by an ominous 

 rattle and crack, warns us of that most unnecessary appendage, 

 an ox-rail on the far side, and through the tangle we just catch 

 a glimpse of him as he saves a fall by sitting back and giving 

 lots of head-room not by holding on to the bridle under the 

 impression that by that process he is ' picking his horse up 

 Now for the first time our faith fails us, we waver in our 

 allegiance, and, trying to persuade ourselves that his keen vision 

 has for once been at fault, we speed our way towards the 

 alluring gap, when alas ! we see, though too late, that there was 

 method in the seeming madness of that leap. Some three or 

 four hundred sheep of the mighty Leicester breed, the most 

 perverse and wrong-headed that ever wore wool or were pos- 

 sessed of a devil, scared into action by the cry of the hounds 

 and the rush of approaching hoofs, have just broken up the 

 military phalanx into which they had formed on seeing the 

 fleeting apparition of the fox, and are charging madly up the 

 fence ; their point is evident ; they know of the gap and are 

 making for it as for a haven of sure refuge. We are yet ten 

 lengths off when the leading ewe turns short and dashes head- 

 long into the ditch, our easy get-out is choked by a struggling 

 heaving suffocating mass of fleece, forming a barrier more com- 

 plete than any devilish complication of oak timber and wire 

 rope ever devised by the ingenuity of an anti-fox-hunting 

 farmer. The owner of these sheep, by the way, will riot be 

 greatly enamoured of the chase when he comes to reckon up 

 the casualties which will result from this panic. Well ! the 

 mischief is done now, we have hesitated and must perforce 

 accept the penalty of hesitation ; with stomach for the fray 

 materially weakened we resolve to have a go at the place through 



