THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



scent ; Meynell took off his cap, and gave a scream ;- and 

 what could I do ? What would you have done ? The young 

 thorough-bred one had recovered his wind ; and, as he shook 

 his head less, and played cheerfully with his bit, I hoped he 

 was in less pain. He was carrying nie magnificently — not 

 more than a dozen of us with the hounds ; a splendid country 

 before us — I took the lead again.' (Here Frank heaved 

 another sigh, and became restless.) 



' I shall never forget,' continued Mr. Somerby, ' the third 

 fence we now came to, which was out of the next field but one 

 to Shankton Holt cover. It was not a double but a treble. It 

 was of this description ; — tliank Heaven ! there are not more 

 than three or four of such in most runs ; — first, a ditch ; then 

 a rail ; then another ditch ; and then another rail. You see 

 there is no landing for a horse, if he takes fences of this sort 

 at twice, except on the first rail, or in the second ditch ; but 

 the old ones ivill double them, when very well handled by their 

 riders. 



' Now the Avind was well in Brilliant, and I had found he 

 would face anything ; but I doubted his being up to this queer 

 double, or " treble," as I have called it. I sent liim at it, then, 

 at the rate of twenty miles an hour, thinking to take it all at 

 a fly ; but far as the clever young horse flung himself, he 

 could not clear the whole. He alighted with one fore-leg over, 

 and the other under, the outermost rail, and gave me a 

 thundering fall. " It's unfortunate," said I to myself, glancing 

 my eye at the fence, as I rose from the ground ; " if I liad 

 known that that middle rail had been so weak, we would have 

 gone " in and out clever," as Cholmondeley says ; "at least, we 

 should have got over with a scramble. I am out of luck 

 to-day," added I; " but here goes again," and soon jumped into 

 my saddle. 



' The hounds having turned towards me a little, I was very 

 soon in my place again. " What now ? " said one. " Disasters 

 come thickly this morning," cried another. " All right again," 

 replied I ; " take care of yourselves, for we are in for business 

 to-day ; and I perceive one or two of you have been paying 

 your respects to Mother Earth. Don't lialloo ti*ll you are out of 

 the wood, my boys." 



' The scent appeared to get better and better ; — indeed, the 

 pace had been awful since the check in the windmill piece, 



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