198 Hunting the Grisly 



"Virginia 11 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 aver- 

 aged 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 fur- 

 ther on, before there had been a chance for 

 much tailing, 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 succes- 

 sion without a single refusal and with but one 

 mistake. Owing to the severity of the pace, 

 combined with the average height of the tim- 

 ber (although no one fence was of phenome- 

 nally noteworthy proportions), a good many 

 falls took place, resulting in an unusually large 

 percentage of accidents. The master partly 

 dislocated one knee, another man broke two 

 ribs, and another the present writer broke 

 his arm. However, almost all of us managed 



