A SHARP BURST AND A HARD RUN. 101 



a warning, but that lie feared to disturb him rather 

 than put him on his guard. 



But friend and foe were both destined to be disap- 

 pointed, for the brave horse "Moonbeam," whether 

 it was that he knew what was to be done better than 

 his rider, or what is more probable, that he baulked 

 for the tenth part of a second at the unexpected sight 

 of bright water, checked himself instinctively at the 

 drain's brink, and took the upstanding pales by what 

 is called a buck leap, barely clearing them, and doing 

 so only by bringing his hind legs quite close under 

 him up almost to his belly, and then by a sudden twist 

 alighting on them. That is a very common trick of 

 leaping with Irish hunters accustomed to perpendicular 

 stone walls with no ditches, but is unusual with En- 

 glish horses, and not in them considered an advan- 

 tage, since in most of the midland and many of the 

 northern counties the hedges are backed by broad 

 drains or brooks, into which a buck leap is sure to 

 precipitate both horse and rider, neck and crop. It is, 

 moreover, a very hard leap to sit, and shakes an un- 

 practised rider more than any other. At this crisis, 

 however, it stood our friend in good stead, for used to 

 timber jumping, most of any, he sat it firmly, and the 

 good horse seeing the trap at a glance, barely tipped 

 the bank with his heels, stretched over the second grip 

 without an effort, and was galloping, the next instant, 

 at his ease across the best and soundest piece of green 

 sward they had yet traversed. 



Meanwhile the man-trap had done its work as usual, 

 for no precautions of management or lifting can be 

 certain to avail even with the best riders, especially 

 where, as in this instance, the first leap is of great 

 magnitude. Fairfax would have given much to look 

 round and see how his followers fared, for he was now 

 well nigh three lengths ahead, but he knew it would 

 not be courteous, so he galloped right forward, if any 



