A COVERT SIDE. 81 



first, when other people, not liking them, are jamming 

 the gateways, and blocking up the bridges, than twice 

 as many later in the day." 



*' Well, that is easily done enough. Who is the best 

 man to look to ? I don't mean to follow, you know, 

 but to look to for the direction in which the fox is 

 heading before the hounds are out of covert." 



^' Oh, there's half a dozen ! None better than Val. 

 Magher, or Harry Goodriche, or Frank Holyoke, or 

 Campbell of Saddell — any of these are good as gold; 

 but pin your faith on the sleeve of no man. Ride 

 hard and ride steady. Lay yourself forty or fifty 

 yards to leeward, nearly abreast of the leading hound, 

 but perhaps thirty yards or so back of him. Keep 

 your eye on him all the time, and as he turns, so tui^n 

 you; and look out if he throws up his head, or turns 

 short upon you, hold hard — pull your horse short up 

 on the instant." 



"Any thing more ?" 



" Not much. Take your fences as you find them. 

 No time for looking out for easy places. Hold your 

 horse's head hard and straight at it, and if it needs 

 be, cram him. Take care to cross no man's line, 

 'specially at a fence. If there is a check, jump down 

 from your saddle and turn your nag's nose to the 

 wind, if it be but for a minute. It shall be w^orth a 

 mile to you in a long run. You see I don't fear for 

 your nerves, but only for your knowledge of this 

 English science — for to ride w^ell to fox-hounds is a 

 science, and a hard one too, I assure you." 



" I thank you for your good opinion, and I do not 

 think you need fear me on that score ; if I were 

 inclined to be nervous, it would be rather at the idea 

 of doing a gaucherie, or, as your friends here would 

 call it, something snobbish, than of getting a fall at a 

 rasper.'* 



" Or of coming to grief, colonel." 

 174 



