THE ROYAL BUCKHOUNDS. 121 



five hundred horsemen. At the first fence down goes 

 one, and the brown horse is up first, and gallops wildly 

 away. At the second another rash rider comes to 

 sorrow. " Yoi, over ! " I cried, as I saw him putting 

 his horse at the fence in front of me, and ' ' Yoi, over ! " 

 it was right over, in fact and the gray was first to 

 find his feet, and go away at a clinking rate after the 

 hounds. From this gentleman's acrobatic performance, 

 I should imagine he intends to compete with the 

 Hanlon brothers ; his prospects may be said to be 

 encouraging should he carry out his presumed inten- 

 tions. With repeated checks, constant over-riding of 

 hounds, and now and again a brisk gallop, we go in 

 the direction of Wargrave. When this point was 

 reached, it was found that Express had crossed the 

 river, and the hounds came to a check. Here the bulk 

 of the <f field " stopped, as the prospect of a four-mile 

 trot to Henley Bridge, along a dusty road, was not 

 likely to be very enjoyable. The run may be said to 

 have been over ; but nevertheless Goodall crossed 

 the bridge, and seemed determined to take the deer. 

 Having seventeen miles to ride in order to catch the 

 train, I somewhat unwillingly bent my steps home- 

 wards, for Whissendine was still as fresh as paint, 

 carrying me over every fence that came in his way in 

 a manner to delight anyone who loves a good mount. 

 For an Easter hunt, the sport was fair enough ; much 

 cannot be expected where such an enormous concourse 

 assembles. It is, in fact, a holiday giving immense 

 pleasure to the crowd ; and as the regular riders with 

 the Royal Buckhounds have all the rest of the season 

 to themselves, it is well that the general public should 



