1 66 SKETCHES IN THE HUNTING FIELD. 



A sudden swerve to the right heads us straight for a 

 well-known covert, wherein more than once before a 

 run has come to a sudden and inglorious conclusion; 

 and with much anxiety, together with not a little dis- 

 content, we canter along the furrows or close to the 

 hedge in the mangold field through which hounds are 

 running. Hounds disappear, and apprehensively we 

 canter onward, but are mightily relieved when with a 

 loud burst, as though they had all viewed him at the 

 same second, they speed on again across a pasture 

 bordered by the Downs, and, topping or scrambling 

 through the hedge, stream up the steep hill-side. 



Easing our horses all we can up the ascent, we follow, 

 and, with much care and encourag^ement from voice 

 and hand, we descend. The fox turns off diagonally, 

 and now we know pretty well the earths for which he is 

 heading. 



The bottom of the hill is happily reached, though the 

 field now presents a long tail, and those who have not 

 husbanded their resources up the ascent and over the 

 plough discover, especially if they have been larking 

 before the find, and galloping too recklessly to and fro, 

 that they will have to do all they know, and in many 

 cases more than that, to keep their places. Laceby's 

 horse has distressed itself — to say nothing of having 

 very seriously distressed him — and, swerving at a fence 

 just by a gate, topples clumsily over the latter, upon 

 which safe eminence the rider presently ensconces 

 himself, after having carefully examined his arms and 



