CHAPTER XXXI. 



THE BRIGHTON HAREIERS. 



INDING that all the fixtures of the War- 

 wickshire, Atherstone, and Pytchley 

 were so wide of Rugby this week, and 

 being warned that the country was fear- 

 fully heavy, I determined to try my luck on the 

 lighter lands of the Sussex Downs, and have a day 

 with the Brighton Harriers. The " meet " on Wednes- 

 day last was Ovingdean, on the borders of the 

 country hunted by Mr. Steyning Beard with the 

 Brookside Harriers. The morning was anything but 

 promising, and dirty weather to windward was the 

 description given by a nautical companion. The 

 elements certainly have not favoured hunting this 

 season, and having met with rain, snow, and hail in 

 my visits to different packs, I was doomed on this 

 occasion to fall in with a sea fog. A brisk canter by 

 way of Kemp Town, following the Lewes road for 

 two or three miles, brought us to the meet, where a 

 field of some sixty or seventy sportsmen had as- 

 sembled in order to have a gallop over the breezy 

 downs. There was Mr. Dewe and seventeen couples 

 of hounds, looking as blooming and fit to go as it is 

 possible for a pack to be. Mr. Steyning Beard, who 



