24 SPORTING REMINISCENCES 



vein of sarcasm which kept a field in great 

 order, and one of the greatest hunts known in 

 Limerick, from Heathfield to some miles beyond 

 Drumcollogher, took place in his time. 



He used to draw away from Limerick, so we 

 found ourselves late one afternoon at Heathfield, 

 twenty-two miles from Limerick. I was riding 

 Dandy, my grey roan. A fox was out almost as 

 soon as hounds were in and crossed the road below 

 the covert. I don't suppose anyone took it 

 seriously, as the hill foxes are generally expected 

 to turn up again, but this one held straight across 

 the valley. 



My experience of the hunt ended three miles 

 further on, when poor Dandy put his foot into 

 the hidden bough of a tree or a hole, and turned 

 over on landing. Worse still, he got up and went 

 on, leaving me there, fourteen or fifteen miles from 

 home. We were still living at Fedamore. 



Of course I thought I should find him, and I 

 remember sitting on the bank watching the field, 

 which had waited for the hill hunt, come by. 

 There was even then a trail of over a mile. One 

 of their last, she had got a shocking start, was 

 Mrs. Arthur Russell, who finished afterwards quite 

 alone with hounds. On old Tally Ho she was very 

 hard to beat. 



Dandy was not for being caught. He went as 

 far as Springfield, an eight-mile point from Heath- 

 field. Here everyone had had nearly enough, 



