LUCY GLITTERS. 67 



of the road, but Lucy Glitters charged them gamely, and 

 with a sickening crash we fell into the field beyond. After 

 witnessing as fine an exhibition of fireworks as need be, I 

 found myself on my back, gazing up at the sky, with my 

 mouth full of dirt, a hat as flat as a Gibus, and a flood 

 of eloquence from Sir John ringing in my ears the while. 

 Lucy Glitters was quietly grazing a few yards off. 



" This little incident seemed to quiet her a bit, and as 

 we raced over the vale I soon realised what a vast amount 

 of good there was in the mare in spite of so much vice. 

 But now came an opportunity to try her at open water, 

 for we were running straight for the Freshley at its widest 

 part. Already a number had turned off to the left, where 

 there was a ford about half a mile off, but the hounds 

 were streaming away over the grass on the other side, and 

 I saw that the Master, his chesnut-haired daughter, and 

 the first whipper-in, charging in a line, meant having it at 

 all costs. The former blunders over and falls the other 

 side, the whipper-in's horse jumps it cleverly, while The 

 Geisha skims over with her fair burden in superb fashion 

 I must be with her or perish in the attempt. Two scarlet- 

 coloured coats have already disappeared into the coffee- 

 coloured torrent, and I see that Maltby is safely over (I 

 remember mentally calculating what he would take for 

 the four-year-old). Now for it ! Fool that I was ! if I had 

 left her alone all would have been well, but in my anxiety 

 I crammed in the spurs once more, up went her heels, 

 and over her head I shot into the icy depths of the 

 Freshley. And just at that moment Miss Manby was 

 lookins: round to see how it fared with her father. 



"Wet, tired, and dispirited, I was jogging homewards 

 when Maltby overtook me. The Master, Miss Manby, a 

 man in scarlet, the whipper-in, and he were the onty 

 people to see hounds run into their fox a mile and a half 



