THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 85 



you have in this run, or you will break your neck some 

 day. And the new leathers, what a pickle they are in, 

 and how they will tell tales when you get home ! Lady 



Charlotte will " " Oh ! " exclaimed Frank, " they will 



know nothing about it ; they shall not see me till I am 

 dressed for dinner." 



At this moment the hounds hit off their fox, and went 

 on, but not at best pace. In fact, they were brought to 

 slow hunting, at which Mr. Warde's hounds ever have 

 been so conspicuous ; and the attention of Frank was 

 riveted to them. 



At the end of an hour and thirty- five minutes, the 

 scent mending towards the finish, and the hounds running 

 from scent to view, the fox was in Bob Forfeit's hand, and 

 his brush given to Frank Raby by Mr. Warde himself, 

 who was delighted at the sight of so promising a young 

 sportsman in his country ; indeed, he honoured him with 

 peculiar notice. 



Sir John being engaged to dine that day at the Abbey, 

 Frank and himself proceeded homeward together, but not 

 a word could be heard of " old Preston," nor, indeed, of a 

 good many more of the field, who had been stopped by 

 the Stark brook. 



In the course of the evening, the health of Mr. Warde 

 being drunk, himself and his hounds became the topics of 

 conversation ; and thus did Sir John Inkleton speak of 

 them : 



"It may be presumptuous, perhaps, in me," said this 

 sporting and gentlemanlike young baronet, "to give a 

 decided opinion of a pack of foxhounds, it being evident 

 that my experience has been chiefly confined to those I 

 hunted with when at Oxford, and very good they were. 

 Still, there is something in the character of Warde's 

 hounds which strikes the eye, and fixes the attention of 

 even a common and inexperienced observer, previously to 

 seeing them at work, as being animals superior of their 

 kind, as respects shape and power. Their style of hunting 

 is equal to their high form ; and as you masters of 

 harriers," addressing himself here to Mr. Raby, "pride 

 yourselves on overcoming difficulties in chase, and hunting 

 your game to death, under the most unfavourable circum- 

 stances, I wish you had been with us to-day. There were 

 many obstacles in our way : First, the scent was ex- 

 cellent in the burst, because the fox ran straight, and 



