56 THE CREAM OF LEICESTERSHTRE. [Season 



bim, in a style that will make him a limiter before be is twenty- 

 minutes older. For some fields the pair lead the van, till the 

 junior lacks confidence at a hairy place, and the senior finds be 

 has no spurs to instil it into him. Mr. Cheney then takes his 

 place, and spurts up the ridge-and-furrow beyond, with a goodly 

 band in close attendance. The Hoby and Ragdale road plays 

 havoc among the leaders ; the pace has been severe, the 

 country trying, and the jump into the lane is a trappy one. 



Whose steed is llyijig down the road, 



Delighted to have shirked his load ? 



No funker's is he, or impostor ; 



Why chanced it, then, such luck to Foster? 



Young in name, but not in years. 

 See, there is one who knows no fears, 

 Now pulling at his horse's ears ; 

 "How get him out ? " he cries in tears. 



But Col. Burnaby's fall was a more serious matter, for he was 

 a good deal crushed by his horse, and had some difliculty in 

 riding home. 



The hounds now dip down into the valley beyond the road, 

 and people who ride for points have ah-eady fixed their mind's 

 eye on Shoby Scholes, remembering the Prince of Wales's 

 burst last year. But, though the fox treats them to the first 

 two or three raspers on the route, he turns not for the covert, 

 but holds towards Asfordby, with no apparent point in front. 

 The Wreake is swollen a quarter of a mile broad on his right, 

 so he is not likely to turn in that direction — though several 

 gentlemen are said to have brought out their swimming belts in 

 case of accident. " Keep to your right ! " roars the first man 

 over an oxer. But the warning comes too late ; the second is 

 already in the air, and, with a less manageable horse than his 

 predecessor's, is carried into a deep and dirty runlet that 

 crosses the field. On to higher ground where runs the Hoby 

 and Shoby bi'idle road, the Kne hunters riding deep in the u 

 plough over the two last fields, the skirters taking full advan- 

 tage of the grass on the left ; and just as the two parties join 



