ADVENTURES WITH THE HOUNDS 155 



to see the cause of this, I found a large gravel-pit 

 with two men at work in it, immediately beneath 

 Brutus's fore-feet. There was no power of stopping 

 and no room to turn ; so with a touch of the spur 

 and a lift I stimulated the amount of exertion to 

 which the dear horse had already made up his mind, 

 when, with a bound that I shall never cease to be 

 thankful for, we flew over the danger and landed 

 safe on the other side, with several feet to spare. I 

 had jumped a yawner, but should have thought no 

 more of it, if on my return I had not found the two 

 men whose heads I had gone over waiting in the 

 servants' hall with the string with which they of 

 themselves had measured the leap. The pit from 

 brink to brink was twenty-three feet wide ; and 

 standing with no vantage ground in his favour, my 

 clever horse had cleared it considerably even with 

 his hind feet.' 



The celebrated Marquis of Waterford was a bold 

 rider, and never refused any fence. An intimate 

 friend of his writes : 



' I remember once riding with him (the Marquis 

 of Waterford) from Melton to John o' Gaunt's Gorse, 

 where the hounds were to meet. His groom was 

 mounted on a young horse, whose " manners," to 

 adopt the language of West End horse-dealers, were 

 evidently not very good. 



' " Put him at that fence," said Waterford. 



' The groom proceeded to obey orders, but with- 



