. THE CUE ATE IN SPPJXG. 199 



oil, such language ! — stirrups are gone, probably buried 

 in the ditch, and for tlie moment he is a dangerous 

 lunatic. Men whose years well-nigh double mine tell me 

 that the late Lord Forester would not even allow the 

 spring bars of his stirrup-sockets to be left down (a 

 precaution that I fancy few of our generation tempt 

 Providence by neglecting), lest a lost stirrup should 

 result in a lost run ! And after this and other recent 

 Sportsuian's Exhibitions in our immediate locality, I am 

 inclined to think that the old lord's practice if reckless 

 was at least reasonable. 



Well, somehow — after passing thus through peril and 

 by-play — we reached the low^er Vale — hounds now some 

 three hundred yards before us, bending apparently a 

 trifle to the right, with a dozen red-coated riders and 

 as many black in near attendance. Happy thought ! 

 the country is now open, and the fences apparently fair. 

 Bend to the right too ; cut straight to the head, and be 

 at once " at the top o' the hunt " ! No sooner said 

 than done, by twenty eager men. One nice easy jump, 

 two ditto, three ditto — one more, and w^e shall be with 

 them again ! Silly of us to have been dispirited so 

 readily ! Oh, soul of old Nimrod ! What's this ? The 

 Broughton brook — a great hedge-guarded chasm, not to 

 be jumped for miles ! Those fellows in front have hit 

 the bridge, and given ycai — I mean us — a slap in the 

 face that will last us many a day. Now you must just 

 gallop back and after them, or make a longer circuit yet 

 to a distant ford still more to the right. Oh, the 

 fortune of foxhunting ! And yet, even in rugged 



