THE HOLYHEAD ROAD 



359 



tliinking' thcit he had cut and run, and tliat pcrliaps he 

 had left Old Lai in trouble. 



This supposition proved correct ; but it was never 

 believed that old Trojan was the cause of Old Lai beini^r 

 found dead on the side of the road some distance off 

 his waggon, which was found stuck fast between two fir- 

 trees, with one of the hounds still in harness lying dead 

 beside it. No ! It was believed by the ostler that the 

 guilt of Old Lai's death lay at the door of another 

 of the dogs — one Rocket, who turned up at the Sugar 

 Loaf shortly after the arrival of Trojan. For this 

 Rocket, according to the ostler, possessed many traits 

 calculated to give rise to suspicion. In the first place, 

 he was " a younger and more ramblier dog ; " in the 

 second place, " he never settled nowhere ; " and in the 

 third place, the last that the ostler heard of him was 

 that, " being allers wonderful fond of sport," he had 

 joined a pack of Harriers at Luton. '' He was kinder 

 master of them, frequently collecting the whole pack 

 and going a-hunting with them by his self." All three 

 which considerations put together induced in the ostler 

 the very probable belief that Rocket was the instigator 

 of the poor old man's death ; that he (Rocket) must 

 have caught a view of a fox, or at any rate have crossed 

 a line of scent and bolted off the road and up through 

 the wood, and '' after he had throwed the old man out 

 continued the chase till the waggon got hung fast to 

 a tree and tied them all up." The jury, it may be re- 

 marked in conclusion, who sat on Old Lai's remains, did 

 not rise to this very lucid explanation of the cause of their 

 session : for according to the ostler, they contented 

 themselves with observing " That Old Lai was a pauper 

 wagrant, that he had committed accidental death, and 

 the coroner sentenced him to be buried in the parish in 

 which he was last seen alive." He was buried in a square 

 box accordingly, and the ostler and Trojan the fox-hound 

 were the sole assistants at the rite. 



But what of the coachmen on this celebrated coaching 



