^Nimrod ' 



Sampson/ and putting his head straight at a yawner. ' We 

 shall have the Whissendine brook,' cries Mr. Maher, who 

 knows every field in the country, ' for he is making straight 

 for Teigh.' ' And a bumper, too, after last night's rain,' 

 holloas Captain Berkeley, determined to get first to four 

 stiff rails in a corner. * So much the better,' says Lord 

 Alvanley, ' I like a bumper at all times.' ' A fig for the 

 Whissendine,' cries Lord Gardner ; ' I am on the best 

 water-jumper in my stable.' 



The prophecy turns up. Having skirted Ranksborough 

 Gorse, the villain has nowhere to stop short of Woodwell 

 Head cover, which he is pointing for ; and in ten minutes, 

 or less, the brook appears in view. It is even with its banks, 

 and as 



' Smooth glides the water where the brook is deep,' 



its deepness was pretty certain to be fathomed. 



' Yooi^ OVER he goes ! ' holloas the Squire, as he perceives 

 Joker and Jewell plunging into the stream, and Red-rose 

 shaking herself on the opposite bank. Seven men, out of 

 thirteen, take it in their stride ; three stop short, their 

 horses refusing the first time, but come well over the second ; 

 and three find themselves in the middle of it. The gallant 

 ' Frank Forester ' is among the latter ; and having been 

 requested that morning to wear a friend's new red coat, 

 to take off the gloss and glare of the shop, he accomplishes 

 the task to perfection in the bluish-black mud of the Whis- 



1 A favourite hunter of the baronet's which he once honoured by coming 

 all the way from London to Melton to ride one day with hounds. 



