io6 THE BEST OF THE FUN 



fit for servants' horses " — though I don't for a moment 

 ask Mr. Straker or his gallant huntsman to accept- the 

 definition in its entirety. 



Besides these walls, and besides the lighter fences of 

 the east, there are round Kirkheaton many stone-faced 

 banks, with more or less growth of thorn or screen of 

 timber on top. But of these, as of the majority of the 

 fences of the country, a good Irish horse will make com- 

 paratively light — always supposing he is not blown by the 

 extraordinary pace with which hounds are in the habit of 

 running over these broad ranges of coarse, high-scenting 

 grass. There is nothing whatever to stop hounds ; not 

 even wide ditches such as pertain to Meath. They fly 

 the walls abreast, and they swish through the hollow 

 hedges all in a row. So the least false turn on your part, 

 the least waiting for some one else to make the requisite 

 hole for you — and hounds slip you forthwith. The best 

 authorities on the Tynedale country assure me that riding 

 to hounds here involves a continual struggle not to be run 

 away from ! On a bad scenting day hounds have, both 

 from the wide conformation of the pastures and from the 

 consideration of their limited field, all the room they need. 



Thus, say I, the Tynedale is, without doubt, a very 

 beautiful and enticing country. Its turf, even this April, 

 is mossy and soft. It is elastic in midsummer, I am 

 assured ; and in midwinter it is never deep. And of the 

 size of these great grass fields I dare scarcely tell you — 

 lest you should deny me belief. But many are of a 

 hundred acres ; some are even more, while I have been 

 shown one or two in which a gallop of over a mile is 

 obtainable. 



Mr. Straker was fortunate on Wednesday, in that a 

 shower had fallen overnight and damped the surface of 

 the withering herbage. At any rate there was a flying 

 scent ; and, as the foxes of the day allowed, there was 

 sharp fun now and again. 



But first I must make a note of what was to me a 

 great and novel treat. Mr. Dent, the trainer and once- 

 owner of the Waterloo Cup hero, had most kindly brought 

 Fullerton, Young Fullerton, Needham, and another or two 



