1 70 Hark Away, 



park palings, and flights of posts and rails, whole- 

 sale or retail, and who was spoken of by a well- 

 known dealer of Piccadilly as being perfection, I 

 in turn mowed down the lot over a double, and, 

 like a servant girl in a strict family, had not 

 any followers — not even the hard-riding lady alluded 

 to. 



A " field " of about fifty well-mounted men were 

 present at Pirgo, the seat of General Fytch, and 

 several ladies. Amongst the nags, I noticed two or 

 three first-class animals, if appearances go for any- 

 thing. One, a thoroughbred, evidently a race horse 

 from his style, looked remarkably fit to go, and a 

 clever-looking chesnut, who was as fresh as need be, 

 if not a little too much so. 



Then, the order to move being given by Mrs. Ark- 

 wright, the hounds were speedily thrown into cover, 

 and the cheery cry of the huntsman was heard, 

 " Halloo, in there ! Halloo in ! Yoi, have at him ! " 

 But in vain, for this exceedingly likely-looking place 

 for a fox was drawn blank, and the hounds were 

 trotted off to the plantations adjacent to the house. 

 Here my troubles commenced. The horse, an entire 

 stranger to me, who had gone quietly to cover, sud- 

 denly became wild with excitement, and kicked, 

 squeaked, jumped, backed, and did everything in his 

 power to unseat me. If another horse passed him it 

 was the signal for a fresh attempt, and when giving 

 him one on the shoulder with my hunting crop he 

 reared straight on end, and warned me he could be 

 dangerous. 



I have no objection to any reasonable amount of 

 light-heartedness on the part of the steed who has to 



