SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 349 



steadily through the host of horsemen, and in less 

 than two miles the hounds were running at the top 

 of their speed, and not a soul within a hundred yards 

 of them. 



" Aye, aye, master, this will do \" cried Jem, in 

 ecstacies; "this scampering over downs ain't un- 

 pleasant after that heavy work in the vale : my nag 

 can go like lightning." 



" Then hold him together, Jem, for the race is 

 only begun. This is a straight running old gentle- 

 man afore us, or he wouldn't have faced the wind in 

 this manner, and you knows he saved his brush last 

 year by getting to ground in sight of the pack over 

 yonder hill." 



"Yes, master, I recollects all about it; but he 

 ain't' going to serve us that trick to-day. You don't 

 want me now, I suppose ?" 



" No, Jem ; but you can't do it at this pace ; and 

 there's no doctor's horse to be found hitched up at 

 a green door if yours fails you." 



Jem drew ahead, notwithstanding ; and as he sped 

 along his thoughts escaped him, or, in other words, 

 he was thinking aloud. 



" Master's a deal heavier in the saddle than I am, 

 and in course I couldn't leave him without some 

 excuse ; but I know the old squire's notions about 

 this spree, and if I don't handle him long before any 

 of them chaps get up, my name ain't James." 



The race now commenced in earnest. George 

 Tracy, Sam Coventry, and half-a-dozen light weights 

 on thoroughbred horses, strove fiercely to cut down 

 Jem and take the lead from him ; but our first whip 



