80 THE CREAM OF LEICESTERSHIRE. [Season 



— Jehu being accommodated on the knee of the stoutest of the 

 party. Of a sudden the weight above and the depth below 

 proved too much for the chariot, which parted amidships. 

 The horse and two wheels proceeded onwards ; the body of 

 the vehicle remained beliind, after casting forth its occupants 

 in divers directions in the mud. Four of them sat and stared 

 at each other with piteous expression ; one of them started 

 up and ran haphazard into the wood ; while Jehu showed more 

 sense than any of the party by lying full length in the side 

 ditch and roaring lustily for brandy. Meanwhile the horse 

 careered down the ride with the two wheels dangling at his 

 heels, and cut into the first knot of horsemen like an Assyrian 

 war chaiiot, scattering them right and left lilce chaff. The 

 group in front of them were up wind, and could hear nothing 

 of the shouts of the first victims as the enemy came down 

 upon them with increased velocity, and chai'ged right mto 

 their midst. Each wheel did its work as effectively as ever 

 did the glittering scythe of classic warfare ; took each steed an 

 inch or two below the hocks, and swept him off the face of the 

 earth — or at least some yards away, where they lay prone and 

 helpless amid such a babel of naughty language as should 

 bring no good future on this desecrated forest. 



A RED LETTER WEEK. 



A VTEEK of wonderful sport was ended Saturday, January 

 11th, the four concluding days containing such items as these : 

 Wednesday, a brilliant seventeen minutes' burst with the Bel- 

 voir, of which I have already briefly spoken ; Thursday, fifty 

 minutes without a check with the Quorn ; Friday, a twenty- 

 five minutes' gallop and a kill in the open with the same pack ; 

 and Satm-day, the fastest thing of the year (twenty-five minutes) 

 with the Cottesmore. 



The mass of geographical matter accumulated by a resume of 



