226 THE HAUGHTYSHIRE HUNT. 



over in safety ; then Francis I. just in front of Jill and Jack- 

 daw side by side, with Dorothy next ; Mimosa jumps short, 

 comes an awful ' purler,' and is almost rolled upon whilst in 

 the brook by The Monk, who has been got over the fence he 

 refused, and the subsequent ones up to this point, by his 

 plucky owner ; nothing else is within a hundred yards, except 

 an old black hunter, whose rider is mercilessly chaffed by the 

 crowd, as he lobs over the water. 



"Yah! you should a-started him over-night! Go on 

 guv'nor ! you'll win yet, if all the rest of 'em falls down ! " 

 "Looks lonely without the shafts, don't 'e. Bill?" and so on. 



Eonald's primrose jacket and violet sleeves can be plainly 

 seen from the Stand, still leading the way, Jack's chocolate 

 and blue lying handy, about three lengths off. Then, at a 

 somewhat longer interval, come Jill and Dorothy, Jackdaw 

 and Francis I., the last-named, however, beginning to hold 

 out signals of distress, his rider's arms going like the sails of a 

 windmill. The horse drops farther and farther astern, and 

 at the succeeding open ditch he comes down, rolling over his 

 jockey in what looks to be a very uncomfortable way. There 

 is the usual rush of people to the spot ; a mounted policeman 

 gallops up, and seeing the rider lying quite still and evidently 

 senseless, on the ground, waves his handkerchief as a signal 

 for the ambulance to come from the Stand. 



And now the survivors of the struggle begin to close up, 

 as they turn for home. Dorothy, hard driven, passes the 

 pair she has been in company with throughout, and gains 

 rapidly on Sheldrake, joining him at the foot of the hill ; 

 these two, together with Jill, then gradually, but surely, close 

 up with Marmion. The latter still leads, but Sheldrake's 



