MISS BADSWORTH, M.F.H. 17 



pack was a small one, nine and a half couples, level, strong, 

 active, in the pink of condition, and evidently bred and 

 selected with the utmost care. 



It was a day to loiter, and Jack felt he could be content to 

 sit on his horse and enjoy the prospect and his immediate 

 surroundings for an hour ; but Charles Badsworth never 

 loitered. After a brief consultation with some neighbour he 

 said, "I'll go down there first," and then as Jack drew his 

 horse to the side of the road he was greeted courteously 

 with '* Good morning, sir. Glad you have come to have a 

 look at us. Tom Barlow's horse, and a good one too, I 

 see." The voice might have been the voice of the Squire 

 of Cranston. 



" Down to the right. Squire, I think," the consultee said, 

 as they turned in at a gateway. The master acknowledged 

 the suggestion with a wave of the hand, and said something 

 which to Jack sounded like " Get forth " in a cheery voice. 



The pack spread itself in all directions, and the master 

 rode slowly on, the girl wide of him to one side now deserted 

 by the terrier. 



Jack totted up the field ; what a contrast to the Cranston : 

 thirteen all told. Some busied themselves in the search for a 

 hare ; others, of whom Jack was one, sat still and watched. 



The large rushy pasture was tried in vain, and then the 

 master negotiated the bank which divided it from the next 

 field, and his daughter did the same lower down. 



Now a bank is a bank, and a stranger to a bank, be he 

 horse or man, is frequently deceived thereby. Jack Morgan 

 was grateful that he was not riding a certain chestnut horse 

 now standing in his stable at home, well known for his bril- 

 liant powers with the Cranston, but apt to be a trifle hot and 

 eager. As it was, Tom Barlow's horse cantered deliberately 

 down the field, and his rider was just conscious that Miss 

 Badsworth turned in her saddle to see him come. It was a 

 novel experience, the clever on and ofi" which the old horse, left 

 to himself, adopted ; but Jack was not only a rider but a 

 horseman, and as he pulled up nearly beside the young lady 



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