PETER PIGSKIN 151 



Disley. The table of precedence and all the Heralds' College 

 humbug is abolished— nerve reigns triumphant, and the majesty 

 of horsemanship is established. In our mind's eye we see 

 them settling into places. Well with his hounds, but not too 

 near, is the Huntsman ; then a hard-riding farmer ; while 

 Peter and the parson 



" Ride side by side," 



as the song has it ; red-coats come ne.xt in prodigal profusion, 

 and we have not time to look at the tail. There's a rare scent, 

 a slight frost in the air, and the hounds are bristling for blood 

 — it is one of those sort of days on which the worst packs 

 appear good. 



Peter keeps his place, intending to pull up on the other side 

 of each fence, and go and see after his barley. Somehow or 

 other, the horse carries him over half the next field before he 

 gets a fair pull at him, and then he thinks that being so far 

 advanced, he may as well see what they do in the next field, 

 until twenty minutes are exhausted, and Peter's bay is m a 

 white lather. 



Twenty minutes on paper, and twenty minutes real riding 

 across country, are very different things, and a check is grate- 

 fully received even by the foremost. We have seen it asserted 

 that no man ever had the candour to acknowledge the oppor- 

 tuneness of a check; but we think that all sportsmen are 

 ready to patronize them at the proper time. It is 3-our steeple- 

 chase gentlemen, with their cutting whips, who are always 

 "just getting into their stride" when they occur. Twenty 

 minutes' best pace across country is no trifle. 



Our pack, however, are at a check, the hounds having 

 spread like a rocket, and made their own cast, now want the 

 assistance of the Huntsman. 



Peter dismounts, looks at his horse, sees all his shoes are 

 on, and scrapes the thick of the sweat off with his stick. The 



