240 REMINISCENCES OF 



crupper! We then went to catch up the hunt at 

 Hardwicke Wood. Trotting down by the side of 

 Sywell Wood I was going on first, and suddenly 

 heard a kind of crash, and on looking round found 

 " The Swell " upside down with my poor father under- 

 neath him in a ditch. He said afterwards he could 

 not quite make out what made " The Swell " fall, 

 but he supposed he must have slipped, and in falling 

 father saw the horse's eyes ! I was horribly 

 frightened. However, mercifully, father was not 

 badly hurt. He had a deep cut on his chin, pro- 

 bably where "The Swell's" fore-foot hit him, and 

 which bled incessantly the whole of that day and 

 night. He also broke one of his back teeth, which 

 annoyed him awfully. He got on again at once, 

 and we soon caught up the hounds in the wood. 

 They crossed over the road at the end of Sywell 

 Wood and ran nicely over some fields. W T e finally 

 lost in a village, through which we had that morning 

 passed. It then being pretty late and scent ap- 

 parently bad, we two decided to return to Kettering, 

 which we accordingly did. We afterwards heard 

 that they had found again in Poor's Close, and ran 

 for an hour and a quarter, killing at the same village. 

 That morning the landlady had asked me what 

 we would have for dinner. I replied, " Oh, we 

 shall not want either soup or fish, just give us chops 

 and a couple of poached eggs ; that will be enough 

 without pudding ". To our astonishment, however, 

 we were feasted with not only soup and fish, but also 

 an entree, leg of tough mutton, partridge and four 



