146 GOOD SPORT 



vicar of Waltham. " Were you riding a better 

 horse to-day, your Reverence, than the one that 

 ■carried you at the top five-and-twenty years ago ?" 

 was asked of the hard-riding cleric. " I don't 

 know, my boy ! They ah jump ! the}^ aU j-u-m-p ! 

 if you only let them ! " was the characteristic reply. 

 The Quorn huntsman was cheered by a familiar face 

 in the crowd, reminding him of good days seen 

 in Yorkshire, for he remarked, " Curiously enough, 

 amongst those with us was Mr. Henry Cholmondeley, 

 one of the best riders in Lord Middleton's 

 country, on a visit to Major Tennant, and he en- 

 joyed himself very much, though taking a fall over 

 the Smite in the morning gallop." It was Captain 

 Holloway Steeds from Ireland, riding a good grey 

 horse with shoulders and a short tail, who after- 

 wards remarked, " The absence of jealousy was a 

 most charming feature of the hunt ; all combining 

 to further sport." It was probably this harmony 

 which crowned the hunt with a kill in the open. 



The high embankment by Old Dalby Station, on 

 the railway between Melton and Nottingham, stood 

 out against the setting sun. In the blue distance 

 beyond could be distinguished Old Dalby Wood, 

 rising from the valley to the sky-line, a point a gallant 

 fox hoped to make. Crawling up the steep grass 

 slopes, he was but a mile from sanctuary, and the 

 unwelcome ovation from a gang of platelayers 

 must have been a shock to his nerves. On swept 

 the chase up the valley between the two Broughtons ; 

 hounds, with rising hackles as they drew nearer to 

 a sinking fox, chanting a death-knell, which was 

 music in the ear of the two huntsmen cheering them 

 on. As the pack followed their fox over the steep 

 railway embankment, a little band of riders jumped 

 the stiff fence and went with them, including Mr. W. 



