AN AUTUMN GALLOP. 27 



for half a ton of beaten liorse-flesli will splinter almost 

 any top-bar in the county, that has been rained upon for 

 more than a single year (and this is one of the reasons 

 for our constant assertion that big horses are better than 

 little ones, to carry us in Leicestershire). That such a 

 result, however, cannot always be attained without a 

 certain concussion was, he tells me, instanced in the 

 query of his groom that night — "Wasn't it close at home 

 as you fell, sir? I thought as the colour of the dirt on 

 the chestnut's head looked as if it were," 



Meanwhile the hounds have encountered their first 

 momentarv check — ^tlieir fox havinir been driven almost 

 back among them by two men who shouted in his very 

 face. But for this they must have pulled liim down in a 

 few more fields. Now they of course flash beyond the 

 point ; recover themselves, however, and the line, very 

 quickly ; but lose a very vital half minute. By this time 

 the circle is nearly completed : and the boundary brook 

 between the Gaddesby and Brooksby parishes is reached 

 where rails must be torn down, while hounds go on alone. 

 Again we are on the Brooksby manor ; again hounds 

 are going faster than we can, and we are going very 

 much faster than our horses. Indeed, as Who-hoop 

 sounds over a drain, at the road immediately above the 

 hall, only the Master and his man are there at the 

 moment to give it — " the field in varied plight arriving 

 as best they can." We shall see nothing faster, and M'e 

 may see very few things better this year. I have made 

 a long story of these thirty minutes. But The Field is 

 read by many a man who for awhile can only get his- 



