THE rOTNT-TO-rOINT KACIsS. IllCir RODIXC liUKV 387 



not hurt — no, not even at the vincontrollable fits of langhter w'hich greeted 

 him, as it slowly dawned upon us who the apparition was. Mr. Guy Gilbey 

 is far too good a sportsman to mind that or any faU. It was certainly by 

 far the best sample we have seen this season. Of course everyone now 

 knows that Capt. Bruce steered Mr. Newman Gilbey's horse home a 

 winner by a neck, and that Mr. Chaffey-Collin rode a fine race for second 

 place, and that not a length divided the third and fourth, Capt. Ricardo's 

 grey and Major Carter's " Spitfire." Mr. Arkwright rode the winner in the 

 Farmers' Race. Mr. T. Christy walked away with the welter in the 

 Farmers" Race. 



Traces of the sad havoc wrought by the disastrous gale of the previous 

 day met us at every turn on Monday as we drove to the meet at Dagen- 

 ham. Straw stacks stripped of their thatch, and many a noble tree laid 

 low ; three fine elms lay prone in Mr. Sands' grounds alone, and the rooks 

 cawed disconsolately amid the ruins of their homes, or sought in vain for 

 those that had been blown away by the storm. A meet at Dagenham is 

 synonymous with open house at Mr. and Airs. Sands', and they enter- 

 tained us all most hospitably before we proceeded to draw for a fox. A 

 quick find rewarded the patient care with which Mr. Sands always looks 

 after his foxes, but being a vixen, she was allowed to depart in peace. 

 Trust a keeper for distinguishing the sex. No one wondered, after such a 

 blustering night, and on so wild a morning — for the wind still blew with 

 the force of half a gale — that foxes were not easy to find ; but all were 

 astonished at the piping scent and screaming burst which we had from 

 Curtis Mill Green. Thirty-five minutes and a kill in the open over a 

 most sporting if rather rough country (full of hazards, in fact) ; quite Mr. 

 Caldecott's special brand, for he knocked daylight in the worst fence we 

 encountered in the whole run, just between Navestock Heath and the 

 gravel pits. Turning back through Pyrgo Wood, and helped by a 

 judicious cast by the huntsman over the park, hounds ran through Mr. 

 Pemberton-Barnes' coverts and killed at Noak Hill. 



Half the field were spread-eagled over the country — simply couldn't 

 live with the lady pack at the pace they ran. 'Faith, they're as musical 

 as they are fast, and their piping notes came floating back as they smeused 

 through the fences and raced in keenest jealousy down the hedgerows and 

 through the woods. Half-a-dozen couples appeared to me to do all the 

 work. One old lady came towling along the line with a train of admirers 

 quite a minute after the fox was broken up, a good guide to the rear guard. 



" Years steal 

 Fire from the mind as vigour from the limb ; 

 And life's enchanted cup but sparkles near the brim." 



— Byron. 



Yes, and as we get older we shorten the stirrup-leathers, 

 and open the purse-strings to buy the animal that we now 

 think necessary to carry us in comfort and safety across a 

 country — a ten-pound note at least for every decade. How 

 amusing would most men's reminiscences be of their first 

 dealings in horse flesh ! Perhaps their most profitable ones, 

 for they could not possibly lose much where they risked so 

 little, and many a horse which from temper or sheer cussedness 

 has been looked upon as worthless has in the hands of youthftil 

 pluck and impetuosity developed into a valuable hunter. 



