150 ON THE GRAMPIAN HILLS. 



jumps a trifle short, and we come down a regular 

 cropper, there being a big ditch on the farther side 

 which neither of us bargained for. However, you 

 cannot have omelets without the breaking of eggs, and 

 you cannot ride to hounds without coming occasionally 

 to grief. 



" I was very nearly jumping on you," said 

 Captain Molineux; "but I pulled up my horse just 

 in time." 



Thanking him for his kind consideration as 

 otherwise the matter might have become somewhat 

 complicated I mounted, and resumed the chase, the 

 hounds running in a direct line for Caxton's Covert, 

 being close to the fox's brush as they raced up the 

 hillside. Then he crosses Stapleford Park, and there 

 is some slight delay, the gate being locked. The 

 difficulty, however, is speedily overcome. In the 

 meantime the hounds are running hard through the 

 College plantation, driving Reynard out of the park, 

 pressing him so closely that he sought safety in a drain. 

 Here he was not allowed to remain. A terrier being 

 sent in after him, he bolted out, and I thought from 

 his appearance he meant giving us another spin ; but, 

 after running a short ring, he again went to ground. 

 Being, however, scared from his hiding-place by the 

 agency of a lighted squib, he bolted once more, and 

 was speedily run into and broken up, Frank Gillard 

 blooding the young hounds, amidst loud cries of 

 " Who-hoop, who-hoop ! " and presenting the brush to 

 Mr. Eobert Wright. This was a pleasant scurry, 

 mostly over a fair line of country, until Stapleford 

 Park was reached. At this point there is a line of 

 railway and a canal, and unless you know your way 



