292 The Course, the Cavip, the Chase 



With regard to the relative speed of horses, hounds, 

 and foxes, a further illustration was afiforded by the late 

 Mr. H. S. Thompson undertaking, for a bet, to catch a fox 

 by himself, by riding it down. The trial took place many 

 years ago on the Wolds, when a fox being found, Mr. 

 Thompson rode after it, a fair start having been allowed, 

 and in a few fields got up to it. The fields there are very 

 huge, and the fences, though very strong, stiff, quick-set 

 hedges, have no ditches to them. On reaching the fox, 

 Mr. Thompson kept close behind it, constantly flicking at 

 it with his hunting-whip, until at last he drove it so 

 distracted that it dashed into a fence and struggled to force 

 its way through, where there was no smeuse to help it. 

 Jumping off his horse, Mr. Thompson secured it, and 

 carrying it back in triumph to where the hounds were 

 running the line, he threw it down before them and claimed 

 his bet. 



He was one of the best of the early steeplechase riders, 

 and the famous Allen M'Donough, with all his recollections 

 of such men as Jem Mason, Lord Clanricarde, Black Tom 

 Oliver, Captain Becher, and others equally good, once said 

 to me : " Of all the jockeys that I often rode against, the 

 most difficult to shake off was Mr. Thompson. You never 

 knew when he was done with ; and after you thought his 

 horse was completely beaten, he would come again and 

 make a fight of it." 



In early life he joined the King's Dragoons in company 

 with his fellow Yorkshireman, Mr. W. H. Thompson, who was 

 afterwards well known on racecourses and in the hunting- 

 field as " Colonel Thompson," through commanding the 

 East Yorkshire Militia, ot " Beverley Buffs." Together, 

 when quartered in Ireland, they used to visit the Irish 



