1880—81.] DANCE AND DISASTER. 353 



more observant sex; of a truth, they could lay claim to the 

 epithet of amj^le on few other grounds. 



Oxendon is a cross-road meet, and Waterloo Gorse a little 

 covert. So it will he taken without contradiction that the 

 former was crowded and the latter surrounded long before 

 operations commenced. Mr. Langham gave till twelve o'clock 

 as grace to the ball-goers ; and, as Oxendon is but two miles 

 from Market Harboro', and great numbers of them had en- 

 camped close to the scene of action overnight, they received 

 every possible indulgence towards making their self-appointed 

 task an easy one. Goodall had brought out the "middle 

 pack," and directly they were in covert they set their fox afoot. 

 But in the dense thorn-thicket he could creep about as he 

 pleased, leaving apparently no sign of his passing ; in fact, he 

 might have been there now had he chosen to remain. But he 

 was quite game for a spin over the countr}^ and probably will 

 be again. The crowd drove him back once, if not twice, at 

 his old point along the railway bank. But he fairly cut his 

 way through them at last, and threaded the village of Oxendon 

 to start with. Half the horsemen struck at once into the road 

 above the covert, there to witness, or commingle in, a catas- 

 trophe as startling and terrifying as is often to be witnessed. 

 Down the broad lane leading into Oxendon Village rushed a 

 stream of horsemen six deep, and galloping twice as fast 

 through their midst tore a dog-cart. In it sat a young lady, 

 clinging convulsively to the seat, while the reins dangled about 

 the horse's legs, and the trap swung hither and thither in its 

 wild career. Pale, silent, and helpless, she swept past, before 

 those upon whom she dashed had time to learn the meaning of 

 the cries, " Look out !" " Stop the horse !" &c., &c. Grazing 

 the flank of one steed, shying off from another, she shot the 

 rapids safely through a marvellous succession of hairbreadth 

 'scapes, till, with a whirl and a crash that thrilled through the 

 heart of every onlooker, the cart bumped against a galloping 

 horse, turned a somersault in the air, and lit overturned, with 

 its freight apparently under it. By the happiest luck in the 



