THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



landed himself on the ridge ; but, unfortunately for us both, 

 lie alighted in the furrow, which was deep and stickj^ The 

 drop must have been six feet, at the least, and he liad a hard 

 struggle to keep his legs, for he must have cleared more than 

 seven yards in lengtli, or lie would not have got over it at all. 

 It told ujwn liim ; but I soon got him upon a headland, and, 

 standing up in my stirrups, took a good pull at his head, 

 which recovered him wonderfully, before he got to the end of 

 the ground, which was sixty acres or more ; but you know, 

 Mr. Raby, the thorough-bred ones will do this. In short, he 

 cleared a high gate into the Uppingham and Leicester road, a 

 little to the ricjlit of Billesden, and a large, straggling, black- 

 thorn hedge, and a ditch out of it, with apparent ease to 

 himself, and greatly to my delight. " This cannot last long," 

 I said. " I wish the fox would die, or that I had any horse 

 in my stable save this ; but Pug must go to ground in the 

 Coplow, or, at least, we may come to a check in it." The devil 

 a bit ; he never went into the Coplow at all, but straight away, 

 as if for Lozeby plantations. I shall kill the young one, 

 thought I ; but what could I do ? We went right over Tilton 

 field — the worst ground in the country for a tired one — and out 

 of it I got another fall ; but I believe it was my own fault. 

 The fence was of this description, — it was plashed, newly 

 plashed, with growers in it as thick as a man's leg; but 

 (confound all Leicestershire hedgers and ditchers !) the brush- 

 wood leaned, uncut, towards me, over at least two yards of 

 ground, and there was a wide ditch on the landing side. 

 Brilliant was going gallantly at it, when, perhaps thinking I 

 was upon Harkaway ' 



Mr. Rahy. — ' Pardon me for interrupting you, Mr. Somerby, 

 in your highly interesting and well-told description of this fine 

 run ; but allow me to ask why those who have such large 

 studs of hunters at Melton do not always have two horses out 

 each day, which would afibrd a chance to change in the course 

 of the runs ; at all events in many of them ? ' 



Mr. Somrrhy. — ' Your remark is an obvious one. A few 

 of our hardest riders are inclined to do so, and I hope to live 

 to see the plan generally adopted. Tli(> difhculty appears to 

 exist in procuring fellows with brains in their heads to ride 

 the second horses properly, so as to bring them up fresh. 

 However, to proceed. Perhaps, thinking I was on Harkaway, 



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