A SHARP BURST AND A HARD RUN. 109 



I don't wonder, if Cliaritj did take it. They 're set- 

 tling on him now, sir ;" and he touched his cap. 



" Now for his brush," squealed the Squire ; " he'll 

 scarce reach the Coplow." 



And away they went for four miles farther ; and 

 now up hill, all with a fair start ; all with horses that 

 had been well tried, wind and limb, that morning, all 

 emulous and abreast. 



It boots not to dwell on fences ; for, after all, ex- 

 cept as you ride at them, they are all pretty much 

 alike. There were no checks any more, nor falls, until 

 at the very last fence, when " Sloonbeam" chested a 

 high stake and bound-fence, and came on his knees 

 and nose, to be cleverly recovered by his rider, just as 

 the Squire's incomparable and indescribable scream, 

 " Who-whoop ! who-whoop ! who-whoop ! was heard 

 from Billesdon Coplow on the hill — within three 

 fields of which they killed him, fairly run into in the 

 open — all the way back down wind to the Whissen- 

 dine, where it met the ears of the stragglers, and told 

 them that the best fox was dead who had run that 

 year before the ladies. 



Point to point, from the find to the kill, it was nine 

 miles and a quarter as the crow flies ; and there was 

 about half a mile to add — so nearly straight was the 

 gallant fox's line — for the one deviation he had made 

 in the true course. 



In forty-four minutes it was done, the check in- 

 cluded, over difficult ground, and some of the hardest 

 fencing in England. The greatest speed ever held for 

 an hour, is twelve miles, and that across common land 

 without fences ; so that it is no wonder if that burst 

 be remembered and quoted as one of the best and 

 hardest ever known ; and if that fox's scalp be visible 

 to this day, as it is, marked with three crosses as 

 super-excellent, on the doors of the Quorndon kennels. 



From that day forth Percy Fairfax was free of Mel- 



