42 THE HAUGHTYSHIRE HUNT. 



on the lancling side. Away he goes agam, watching his 

 hounds with ecstasy as, carrying a magnificent head, they 

 stream hke a flock of pigeons over the next meadow. 



Very httle behind the Huntsman comes the Duke. His neat 

 httle hunter jumps the thorn fence without the semblance of 

 an effort, and His Grace turns to see that Miss Comely, to 

 whom he had been speaking when they found, gets safely 

 over. This duty accomplished, the Duke banishes all thought 

 of what Jack Dashwood calls ' lovely wummun ' from his 

 mind, and sits down in his saddle to ride. 



The main body of the field follow over, mostly crashing 

 through the weak places which have been still further 

 reduced in size by the ' tunnelling ' process to which they 

 have been subjected on the part of the bolder and more 

 forward spirits of the hunt. Half-a-dozen are either down, 

 or their horses have refused. Commander Clump K.N., 

 whose stable is a curious collection of the most outrageous 

 screws extant, is see-sawing ' 'twixt the Devil and the deep 

 sea ' over a piece of timber run through the hedge at a 

 weak spot. Whether the gallant old Tar, whose pluck alone 

 gets him across country on the wretches he bestrides, will 

 fall into this field, or the one out of which he has jumped, 

 still remains a matter of doubt. Then come a few of the 

 second horsemen, and the butcher. Nobbs gets his young'un 

 over — not without a reminder from the ash plant — and then, 

 with the exception of the fallers and refusers, together with 

 a few foot people, the meadow is left to its former solitary 

 condition again. 



But where, all this time, are our three friends, lately of 

 Eingnose College '? — thereby hangs a tale. 



