208 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 



at the din and clatter in his rear ; but the first- 

 flight men, on their thorough-breds, rapidly draw- 

 away from the cocktail, and ere the hounds have 

 gone two miles, Dick Woodcraft is out of the race, 

 and brought to grief by his own hunter trying to 

 take an upright quickset, with double ditches, as an 

 on and off, more suo, and his master, whilst lying 

 on his back, is gratified by the sight of four bright 

 horseshoes glittering over his head. Dick did not 

 require a second hint of this kind to remind him 

 that he was not then in Hampshire, or amongst 

 Hampshire sportsmen, so he picked himself and 

 Ploughman up as quickly as possible, and jumping 

 into the pigskin, sailed away again. 



" Now, Ploughman,'' quoth Dick, " I think we 

 can show these grand Quornites a trick. It's no 

 use riding in their wake ; at such a pace the hounds 

 are running we can't catch 'em — that's out of the 

 question ; but if they don't kill their fox in ten 

 minutes more, he'll turn down wind to a dead 

 certainty, so here goes for a nick in, our only chance 

 of seeing them again ; besides which Ploughman 

 fancies himself in that vale between Greatwood and 

 Wallop, taking it for granted that there must be a 

 bank between two ditches — so now we have it all 

 to ourselves, I'll just switch him at his fences, and 

 take that conceit out of his head, which, by the 

 way, is a trifle too heavy for this sort of thing — in 

 short, 'tis no use mincing the matter, a half-bred 

 one can't go in this country." 



Thus soliloquized Dick Woodcraft, a clever, intel- 

 ligent huntsman, amidst flint fallows and faggot- 



