OCTOBER BEFORE THE WIRE. 41 



possible, that the horse jumped extraordinarily big, and that they 

 had landed safely. And now they rode with confidence, if with 

 a certain amount of cunning — choosing always a sturdy place 

 &t which a horse must rise, and avoiding any gap where a ditch 

 might be hidden under the dense matting of grass and leafy 

 thorn. The pastures and meadows are velvet — the former wavy- 

 brown, the latter a brilliant green, but both with a yielding turf 

 under their luxuriant covering. Providence helps us so far — if 

 horses are fat and unfit, the ground is a springboard. The half- 

 forgotten sensation of sweeping a flying fence sets the heart 

 aglow, and makes the brain almost whirl. You catch your 

 breath with a gasp, as the free-jumping horse drops lightly on 

 the greensward — all the old charm comes back again, and life 

 once more wears its brightest aspect. 



This first twenty minutes fun — over the great Dalby slopes to 

 Burton Lazars — was very refreshing, very invigorating. Arrived 

 at this point, it was decided to leave the old fox to go his way, 

 and to return after the scattered cubs — one of whom was soon 

 served up on the altar of education. 



It would be impossible to dissociate Gartree Hill from the 

 memory of the late Capt. Edward Hartopp — the news of whose 

 -death came so sadly and suddenly upon us only a few weeks ago. 

 For the last two seasons he had been absent from the Dalby 

 Hall, while holding the Mastership of the Kilkenny Hounds ; 

 and it was mainly to his personal popularity that that pack was 

 enabled to continue in the field while others were everywhere 

 compelled to yield to the pressure of Irish agitation. In 

 Leicestershire he not only had never an enemy ; but every hunt- 

 ing man — as during his army career every soldier — who came 

 across him learned to think and speak of him as a genial, kindly- 

 hearted companion, an enthusiastic and thorough sportsman. 

 No man was more widely known ; no man could be more widely 

 and truly regretted. His memory will be sorrowfully cherished 

 while our generation survives. 



