316 THE CREAM OF LEICESTERSHIRE. [Season 



easily enough ; but neither eloquence, nor barrack- square exer- 

 cise, availed to pull it on again — gail}- and garrulously though 

 he hopped about the bank. He is ever a friend to others in 

 misfortune, and only yesterday was hauling a pinned friend out 

 of a ditch by the expedient of loosing him out of his boots. 

 It is very impertinent, it is wholh' unwarrantable, to laugh at 

 a friend in distress — but it Avas horribl}' funny to meet the 

 smart footguardsman travelling home that evening attired 

 something like a deserter from the blues. In place of the 

 faultless get-up of the morning, he had white room}- cords, high 

 Blucher boots, a blue cutawa}', and — in place of hat or helmet 

 — a billycock of some service. But he was warm and dry ; and 

 his friends, thanks to that friendly farmer, will soon see 

 him to the fore again. Ah, in the flutter and fun of this 

 hai)py run there was man}' a Avayside episode for laughter 

 and frolic — were there now time, and Avere it allowable, to 

 recall it. 



Will confiJence, elegance, nothing avail, 

 Wlien the black stops short at a post-;ind-rail ? 

 Or, supposing you're teaching a sticky horse, 

 Is it lair to find fault with cannon or cross ? 



These queries are not meant for poetrj', scarcely for rhyme ; 

 but they contain a moral ; and they come in at a check (after 

 some tAventy-five minutes), just as our fox has crept into Coston 

 Village, and Ave go on Avith another (this point being supposi- 

 tion founded upon eA'idence). After Coston Village a long sIoav 

 quiet hunt, in Avhich second horses might be picked up at 

 any time, b}' Wymondham and Edmondthorpe Villages up to 

 WoodAvell Head — Gillard picking his way forAvard to a very 

 different scent to that of the earlier chase, and hounds stead \^ 

 as harriers on the plough. They had run i)alpably into the 

 field bordering the covert, and were being held along its margin 

 for the trail in — Avlien Will's voice sounded shrill beyond, and 

 they Avere laid on once more on terms Avorthy of the day. Pop 

 your luncheon into j-our pocket, clap in the spurs, and ram 



