1872—73.] A RED LETTER WEEK. 83 



down the big open pasture alongside. A great source of 

 chuckle were these disasters to the agriculturists of the district, 

 one of whom is said to have delivered himself thus, the while 

 he grinned the grin of irony : — " Oi reckon it took ye all yer 

 time to master them joomps i' Rotherby town-soide ; " then 

 added apologetically, " We're forced to set 'em pretty middling 

 strong for them big Welsh bullocks." Pretty middling strong 

 forsooth ! Heaven save us (and our wives and sweethearts) 

 from what this cold-blooded rustic would give a positive 

 denomination to ! 



Some platelayers at work on the line saved them from the 

 impending stoppages from iron and water, and turned the fox 

 right back in his course. He skirted the village of Kotherby, 

 hounds still running hard ; and the field debouched, some on 

 one side of it, some on the other, again on to the Leicester and 

 Melton turnpike. The right division held along the Gaddesby 

 road, with the pack on the three small ploughs close parallel. 

 Those on the left, among them Lord Carington, Mr. Hassall, 

 Capt. Riddell, and Mr. Westley Richards, lost the rest of the 

 run by an untoward accident which befell Lord Grey de Wilton 

 (who had been cutting out the majority of the work up to this). 

 On landing over a small fence his horse was caught up in a 

 sheep net, fell heavily on and then rolled twice over him — 

 crushing him so much that he was picked up for dead. 

 Though not as bad as at first supposed, the injury was serious 

 enough — the muscles of one shoulder being so lacerated that he 

 is likely to be missed from his place for some time. 



To Gaddesby the pace was maintained up to its present 

 standard, with twice a short breathing moment ; but one field 

 from Mr. Cheney's house hounds set off with a renewed vigour 

 that promised a speedy end either to the pursued or to his 

 pursuers. This thirty minutes had been severe enough to stretch 

 the girths of every horse engaged in it; but the next twenty were 

 absolutely killing. Grass the whole of it, except two fields 

 near Thorpe Satchville, but grass of the consistency of ordinary 

 steam plough, hounds throughout forging well ahead — even of 



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