J 88 THE BEST OF THE FUN 



have said, I could take in only a very small part of what 

 was happening along the line ; and right thankful am I to 

 say that on this occasion I did not have to remain to 

 see. Some got over, some got in, some got through ; 

 some fell on landing, some without landing. Under which 

 category I come is my own affair alone. But to witness 

 the brothers Cookson — the' younger on the well-known 

 chestnut mare — fly the water side by side was quite 

 encouraging enough (fifteen feet, I put it, at a guess) ; 

 while if further example were needed, it was to be found 

 lower down, where Lord Chesham had turned short to 

 his right, and two ladies (Miss Porter and Miss Hanbury) 

 — who, I venture to assert, rode the gallop as prominently 

 and successfully as any of the party — were already skim- 

 ming the water in his track. Mr. Fabling, on his bay 

 four-year-old, landed immediately behind the bay mare 

 above mentioned ; while half-way between the two divisions 

 the foam flew upward with a double-barrelled report. At 

 one place it was found possible to jump in and out 

 beneath a tree, till two essayists rolled backwards into the 

 stream and choked up this point of escape. A ford, they 

 say, also existed ; but surely not in this chapter, or it 

 would hardly have escaped the eager eye of your narrator, 

 ever vigilant to seize upon a " pass," as they term it in the 

 county of Meath. At any rate the dozen or so who now 

 went on with hounds had nothing to do with a ford ; 

 and among these were Captain Riddell, Messrs Orr-Ewing, 

 Clayton, B. Hanbury, Cox the first whip, and a gentleman 

 on a hog-maned grey. 



Threading one of the spinneys that usually make the 

 first draw from Trafford Bridge, hounds ran on, still 

 circling, to cross the Banbury and Byfield road, and over 

 the flat to the hamlet of Appletree. Near this, and on 

 the verge of the Boddington Vale, their beaten fox was 

 headed abruptly ; and, scarcely able to trot, was seen 

 taking the road into Aston-le-Wall. Hounds carried the 

 line right into the village ; but their game had hidden up 

 somewhere, and may give them another, and wider, gallop 

 on a future day, Time of the above, about thirty-five 

 mmutes from leaving covert. 



