122 IRISH SPORT AND SPORTSMEN. 



generally the case, has " skiddadled" in the direction 

 of Eadestown before they perceive that the hounds 

 are racing towards Elverstown. Across a few fields 

 they are overridden : it is always so when they 

 go this line, as there are but few fences, and the 

 scent lies well. " Shame on you, gentlemen ; do 

 hold hard, please, and give them a chance!" ex- 

 claims Mr. Edmund Mansfield, most courteous of mas- 

 ters, whose mild rebuke, never given except when 

 necessary, has more good effect than the more em- 

 phatic language of another would have. We leave 

 the Black Hill to our left, and soon meet a nasty thorn 

 fence : we cannot see over, and can scarcely see 

 through. Mr. H. E. Linde, mounted on his chaser, 

 Christmas Gift, charges it, gets well over, and enjoys 

 a lead for a time. Mr. Robert Kennedy can't be 

 stopped on his little gray mare, and sometimes nego- 

 ciates the most intricate fences on her. On this oc- 

 casion he gets up through the bushes in a place where 

 few follow. However, after a brief delay all the first- 

 flight men get over. " Who are those gentlemen who 

 sit their horses so remarkably well?" inquires my 

 friend, Jack Gostraight, who is a stranger. " Colonel 

 Forster and Captain Richard Moore of Killashee." 

 " Did you ever see men with better seats in a saddle ?" 

 " I never did ; the Colonel is evidently master of the 

 horse, in more than one sense of the word ; and the 

 Lancer appears to be a perfect mhiage horseman." 

 Just then I see several in front of me stopped at a 

 very big bank, and one gentleman in scarlet, riding a 

 very good-looking black horse, goes straight at it, and 

 does it in brilliant style, just as I get near enough to 

 recognise him — it is H. R. H. the Duke of Connaught, 



