lA'LT WELL ALONK 2 1 I 



plough, but turned on the steam on hitting the grass beyond, and ran fast 

 to Orange Wood. On the way the choice of a locked gate or ditch-guarded 

 rails had to be made. Not a moment did the Master hesitate, but, catch- 

 ing hold of the good grey, sent him at the rails like a rocket. Rising well 

 at them, he got his forelegs over, but failed to clear his hind ones; their 

 weight and his rider's 17 st. did their work, and brought the rails down 

 with a crash ; and so we reached Orange Wood as soon as hounds entered 

 it. There was not a whimper, for the fox had turned short under the wood ; 

 but that true hound "Workman" had never left the line, and "Trusty" 

 never doubted him : — 



He guides them in covert, he leads them in chase ; 

 Though the young and the jealous try hard for his place, 

 'Tis " Workman " always that's first in the race ; 

 He beats them for nose, and he beats them for pace. 

 Hark forward to " Workman," from daylight to dark ! 



Jim had the hounds out at once, and those who had followed them into 

 the wood had the choice of a high bank or stiff rails before they could get 

 out. Again the Master's grey came to the front, but this time the grey 

 intuitively knowing that they would not bear trifling with, landed well 

 over. The Admiral, too, one of our most thrusting welters, and that 

 dashing light-weight, Mr. Seymour Caldwell, had no intention of shirking 

 them, and rejoined the pack as they breasted the hill. Thick and brambly 

 loomed the fence, and locked was the corner gate ; Mr. Arkwright was off 

 his nag, and, putting his back to it, had it off its hinges at once, while Jim 

 charged the fence lower down successfully, but no one followed him. Shall 

 I tell ? Yes ; for he confessed it himself, and I also have a confession to 

 make — the welter on the roan" turned away, and so did Sewell ; down to 

 the keeper's house they went, and going, went further and further away 

 from hounds, which were still bearing to the right, passing on through a 

 narrow strip of plantation, through the corner of which Mr.. Seymour 

 Caldwell plunged with the pack, and emerged in safety on the grass beyond. 

 But it was a nasty place ; my craven heart failed me, and I sought, right- 

 handed, what the hatless Mr. Sorrell and others had shown to be feasible. 

 But to turn away, if only for a few yards, and as many seconds, is fatal in 

 most cases ; and just here hounds were on grass, going a great pace. As 

 we rose the hill behind Gills Farm, and dropped down the grass slope to 

 Ball Hill, it was a stirring sight, and none, I trow, shut off the steam in 

 their endeavours to catch hounds, who were over the brook at the bottom. 

 Again, uphill you had to stick very close to them to see any of the fun ; 

 the fence at the top had a front of brambles rising from the ditch ; but, 

 though Mr. Caldwell failed to simplify it, Mr. Arkwright made amends, 

 and, as he was not hurt, he will excuse the allusion. 



J. Brocket Sorrell, to my disappointment, was not photo- 

 graphed on his well-known nag " Let Well Alone," which 

 rejoiced in a tail so luxuriant that it was the constant subject of 

 tender solicitude to all who saw it. Neither a long tail nor a rat 

 tail, what was it.'^ Everyone had some suggestion for improving 

 it, from trimming off two feet to curling it. To have pleased 

 all would have been quite the impossible thing, so to every 

 adviser Mr. Sorrell's invariable reply was " Let well alone," a 



* Mr. F. Green on " Blue Beard." 



