226 THE MEYNELL HOUKDS. [1863 



pounds for a grey horse, which he subsequently called the 

 Badger. 



Charles used to declare that this was the best horse 

 that ever crossed the Meynell country. A better there 

 could hardly be, though, possibly, when his owner 

 galloped pell-mell into the pack, on a culvert near Brails- 

 ford, he might have wished it was possible always to stop 

 him at short notice. He said it seemed hours before he 

 was clear of the hounds, though the Badger did his best 

 to help by sending them flying (with fore and hind feet), 

 crying, " Pen and ink and paper." It was in the squire's 

 time, and Mr. Bird will never cease to feel grateful to 

 the late Mrs. Chandos-Pole for making his peace with 

 the Master. But it was to fall to Jim Tasker to " rub it 

 in." Next time Mr. Bird arrived at the meet he observed 

 cheerily and innocently, " A short pack to-day, Charles," 

 to which Jim replied, in his squeaky voice, " You've not 

 left us very many, sir ! " 



But, if the Badger could not always be stopped, nothing 

 ever stopped him. Mr. Kempson will remember following 

 him over the Sutton brook in cold blood, to make a short 

 cut, with all the boys in Dalbury shouting out, "You 

 canna get theer ! " Next Sunday Mr. Stapylton Cotton 

 saw a troop of people coming, as he thought, to church, 

 but they were only looking down to see where these 

 adventurous spirits had jumped the great brook. Mr. 

 Bird, like most masters of the art, has his system, which 

 is to ride at his fences pretty much with a loose rein, and to- 

 let his horse go his own pace at them. This, with his 

 horses at any rate, was a fast one, and yet he got com- 

 paratively few falls, and was only hurt twice. Once he 

 broke his collar-bone, and, on another occasion, his horse 

 put his forefeet into a filled-up ditch in the middle of a 

 field, and striking into his rider's hand in the struggle, 

 tore the flesh off the back of it. 



He was not in favour of mounting people, thinking 

 it upset horses to be ridden by strange hands, so, as a 

 rule, no one rode his horses except his second son, Harry, 



