UNLUCKY QUESTIONS 415 



I had to confess that I had not had one, but with the same 

 breath declared that the question and confession were ahke 

 unkicky, that they should not have asked until the end of 

 the season and that I did not doubt I should now not be long- 

 without one. 



Mark the singular sequel — the very next day of hunting I 

 had the narrowest escape from a dangerous fall at a gate with 

 " Malakoff," and the following day I got two falls with my 

 cleverest and most reliable horse, who has never before made a 

 mistake. I was quite satisfied, however, as I told Lord Petre, 

 that my fate had been deferred beyond his for about three 

 weeks, for it had been a sort of rivalry between us which 

 would Q-Q on lono:est without a fall. 



(Wednesday, April 9th, 1856, found Mr. Vickerman finish- 

 ing the season, not with stag or foxhounds, but with the merry 

 harriers at Pleshey Mount. 



Reaching Pleshey before there were any signs of the 

 hounds, he amused himself by a stroll over "The Mount," 

 which he notes is well preserved and said to be an old Roman 

 encampment.) 



Presently Du Cane and Bullock drove up and we heard 

 that the hounds were going to draw towards the Rasters, we 

 followed and came up with them, and a nicer pack of harriers 

 in breed, beauty and performance, I never saw. They show the 

 great care bestowed upon them by their owner, William Hony- 

 wood, of Marks Hall, who hunts them himself, supported by 

 two whips whose duties are light. (In addition to the names 

 already mentioned, the field consisted of Sir John Tyrell, with 

 two grooms, William Tufnell and his son. Miss IMatilda 

 Tufnell, young Hardcastle. The enjoyment of the first part 

 of a capital twenty minutes in the open was rather spoilt, for 

 Mr. V^ickerman, owing to the literal fulfilment by Sir John's 

 second groom of his master's instructions to follow Mr. 

 Vickerman, as long as he could, for the sake of practise 

 for the promising young thoroughbred he was riding ; but at an 

 in and out of a cramped lane Mr. Vickerman got rid of his 

 follower. 



The second hare, found near Hig-h Easter, went as straio-ht 

 as a line for Good Easter, being killed in thirteen minutes 

 near the mill, Mr. Vickerman saving her from consumption, 

 neither master or whips being up. After lunching at Mr. 

 Saltmarsh's hospitable board, they had a capital thirty-three 

 minutes with another hare, which they also ran into, not before 

 a ludicrous incident had happened to Mr. Bullock, whose horse 

 declining a brook pitched his rider over his head to the bottom 



