CHAPTER VIII. 



A RUN FOR LIFE ; OR, THE FOX's ACCOUNT OF A 

 SHARP BURST. 



" I have crossed the steed since my eyes saw light, 

 I have fronted Death till he feared my sight, 

 And the cleaving of helm and the riving of mail , 

 Were the dreams of my youth — are my manhood's delight," 



The old style of teaching the young idea.— Variety. — Silistria and 

 Colonel Grach. — Iskinder Bey. — Prospects of plunder. — The 

 passage of the Danube. — A dilemma. — A cool attire. — Dis- 

 couraging news. — My chum. — A reconnaissance of the enemy's 

 camp. — A hare, dogs, and hunter caught. — " The gipsy in 

 trouble." — "Where there's a will there's a way." — An ambus- 

 cade. — "A strategetic movement to the rear." — Double! — "A 

 ruse-de-guerre." — An exciting burst. — " Pace and metal re- 

 quired." — "NQ desperandum." — "A last chance." — The crisis. 

 The tables changed. — Good fellowship amongst the brothers of 

 St. Hubert. 



From' earliest youth 1 must have been destmed for 

 a trooper, as my first recollections of education are 

 associated Avith the fact that I was always being 

 horsed; and if the doctrine vouched for by, many 

 learned pedants be true, viz., " that there is much 

 virtue in the counter-action system," perhaps I may 



