WITH THE MADRAS HOUNDS. 33 



a hand-gallop, and to lift themselves over the intermediate 

 banks without treating one to a mud bath. 



Emerging again from this we start upon an even worse 

 specimen of a hunting country to wit, a plain of slippery clay, 

 with holes as numerous as those of a sieve, and a foot deep in 

 water. Over this hounds really settle to run both straight and 

 fast, and we have to struggle and blunder after them as best we 

 may ; but, though an English horse would probably break his 

 back in about a hundred yards of this sort of ground, the 

 Walers, Arabs, and nondescripts aforesaid get over it in a 

 marvellous way. There are few falls, and three or four ladies 

 are pushing along in the van. Of course the pack soon 

 forge ahead, but at length some good galloping ground puts 

 the field on better terms again. Now they are running 

 like steam, carrying a noisy head that makes one's heart re- 

 bound to the dear familiar music. To some eyes ay, and 

 to more than one pair that are already beginning to sparkle 

 gladly there is nothing in art or nature that can give half 

 the unalloyed delight of the sight of hounds running hard. 

 To many minds perhaps to yours as well as mine, reader 

 there is nothing in life so ecstatic as the chase in full swing, 

 whether we are racing over a grass country, popping in and 

 out of stone walls, or even ploughing the deep of the Madras 

 paddy fields. Ye gods, but it is jolly to be at the game once 

 more, and we kick along joyously through the green rice, with 

 the pack crashing and splashing just ahead. "Yonder he 

 goes," from Lord Carrington, who has chosen his line a little 

 to the right, and who now gains a view of our almost brush- 

 less game, lobbing along to a well-known haunt behind a 

 palm-covered village. Master Jack has had the ringing chorus 

 in his ears for the last twenty minutes; but, though dis- 

 daining still to hurry, he is by no means within reach as 

 yet. Just on the right of the hounds come three other greys, 

 viz., those of Lord Charles Beresford, Squires, and Mr. 

 Symonds, while close up on the left are riding Miss Craw- 

 furd, Lord Suffield, Lord Aylesford, and the Master. Merrily 



