12 MELTON AND HOMESPUN 



" ' Surely,' I thought, ' the water would stop him.' 

 But no ; I saw the marks where he had taken off. ' What 

 a horse ! ' I thought, ' what a horse ! ' The Teal at that 

 point was thirty feet across. 



" I knew the horse I was riding could not jump it, so 

 going round by the bridge, quarter of a mile higher up 

 towards the village, I came along the opposite bank till 

 I found the tracks again. As the valley was already in 

 twilight this was no easy matter, but I struck them at 

 length and discovered that Pride of Tyrone had landed 

 with a yard to spare, and gone straight on without 

 hesitating. 



" By this time my mount had had quite enough of it, 

 and as I had more and more difficulty every minute in 

 tracking my way along, I came to the conclusion that 

 further pursuit was hopeless, and was just turning my 

 horse's head in the direction of home when the sound 

 of a hoof on a road caught my ear. 



" I rode quickly towards the sound, and, sitting on 

 his horse in the lane which leads up out of the valley by 

 the edge of Baron's Wood, came upon the new huntsman 

 listening intently with his hand behind his ear. Though 

 how he, who never jumped a stick if he could help it, and 

 almost a stranger in the country, had managed to get so 

 far, I could not imagine. Certainly he had a marvellous 

 knack of picking his way about by lanes and gates, and 

 this was the only direction in which I ever knew him to 

 exhibit the least intelligence. 



" ' Hark ! ' he said, when he caught sight of me, 

 ' Hark ! they're in there,' and pointed up to where Baron's 

 Wood, lying along the top of the valley side, loomed 

 against the sunset sky. I stopped my horse and listened. 



