to say)—to the pommel of his saddle, shut his eyes, set his teeth hard, and-landed on the other side, not only unhurt, but to his immense astonishment, still seated on his mare.

"Viscount" he presently heard behind him, "One word wi' ye!"

He turned and saw Speedycut, who had followed him over this bad place.

"Do just let me tell ye one thing" the horse-dealer went on very confidentially, "At a big place like that 'ere post-andrails it's allowable for to steady yourself be'ind so"-illustrating

-"but for the love o' mercy never before! It makes all the difference betwixt a man's bein' carried by a 'orse and bein' runned away with by one-Ye'll forgive me, sir; but the eyes o' the field's sure to be on anybody as I puts on Brown Duchess-not to mention your wearin' a cap-I can tell ye we're in for a great thing-and what's more,"—sinking his voice to its lowest pitch-" we've got 'Bell's Life' out wi' us to day I knows un well-You'll be in them columns next week as sure as eggs is eggs! I'm pretty safe to be axed your name, and "-grinning-"I shall give it right or wrong, accordin' as ye does credit to the mare-Begs parding for the freedom but you know business is business-That mare's price to any stranger axin' is Four 'undred! Now, Viscount, what you'd better do is to stick to me. Though I never shirks nothin' as I'm obligated for to go at, I'm not a bit in the mind to leave my old woman a 'sconsolate widder-and more nor that-ye sees I've got rayther a raw 'un under me, and he isn't by no means a fust rate performer for a raw 'un-so ye may be sure I won't take ye over anything unnecessary-and where I lead, ye needn't fear about follerin."

During this lecture, delivered slowly and impressively, as if the speaker dreaded the consequence of not being fully comprehended, the hounds had been going at a rattling pace, and now, so burning was the scent, that for a few minutes they seemed almost to fly along the ground. The Vicomte, who had kept his eye on Speedycut, as counselled by that sage, presently observed him taking a line a little aslant, and to the left, of the general field, so hastened to come up beside him.

"Somethinks' a comin', Viscount, as is goin' to turn a few

on 'em," quoth he, "you and me'll take it at a place I knows of-There! d'ye see?—right afore us!"

The "somethink" in question proved to be a complicated affair, consisting of a high rotten bank, a stiff hedge, a yawning ditch swollen by late rains to the proportions of a brook,with a considerable drop towards, and a no less rotten landing-place in, the meadow beyond. The spot chosen by Speedycut for himself and his customer, as that presenting the fewest difficulties was somewhat lower down the line of fence than that generally selected; thus, as longer time was required to reach it, the Vicomte had the opportunity of previously seeing the performances of the majority of the field; and the spectacle was not encouraging to him, for many were the cases he noted of separation between riders and horses, the former rising muddy, scratched, and battered, the latter straining and struggling through the slushy ditch, or scrambling desperately up the sticky bank.

"Ye'll 'ave to give my Lady the steel, and no mistake!" cried Speedycut, "else darned if she won't jump short! Now then stupid!"-This to his own chesnut,-"kim over!" "And with this shout, and a tremendous crack of his heavy whip over the animal's hind quarter, the horse-dealer crammed him at it. By his tutor's side, and scarcely a moment after him, the Vicomte, once more shutting his eyes, setting his teeth, holding on like grim death to his saddle, this time behind not before, and in very desperation going with right good will into the Duchess's flanks with the steel, put her at the awful place. It is more than probable, that, in his inexperience, he checked her in her flight, this neither he nor Speedycut ever knew, but what is certain is that, with all the good will the brave mare threw into her spring, she did jump short, and brought her rider down a cropper, she coming on her knees on the further bank, the Vicomte being shot clear over her shoulder into the field. Nor was he alone in his misadventure, for, on getting up, and shaking himself, he perceived that even Speedycut, the experienced Speedycut, had likewise come to dire grief. The raw chesnut having, in spite of the iron hand that held him, swerved in taking his leap, for all his immense stride had been unable to accomplish the entire width. He had, in fact, simply put his fore feet into the ditch, pitched the dealer, to

quote that celebrity's own expression, into next week, which being strictly interpreted, meant about two yards into the field, and having done so, scrambled out and galloped off, leaving his rider and the Vicomte with the brown mare standing quietly between them.

"Why you not get upon the Duchess and go after your own horse?" asked the Vicomte.

"That I will, and thank'ye, Viscount," replied Speedycut, "and 'ere's a bit o'luck, they're come to a check; them sheep 'as crossed the scent. Come on best pace your pads 'll carry ye to yon 'urdles, and wait there till I brings back yer mare." Saying this, he mounted the mare and galloped after his runaway young 'un.

It was true that a check had occurred, and as there was every reason to suppose, from the cause assigned by the horsedealer. This check, if vexatious to the field at large, was welcomed by the Vicomte as a short respite from what he now began to realise as the terrors of the chase.

66

The foreigner wearing a cap, riding Speedycut's well known mare, Brown Duchess, and to all appearance not going badly, had naturally attracted a good deal of observation. Nor was he likely to become less " the cynosure of neighbouring eyes" when he was noted as having come down a buster," in company with so many good riders. Accordingly on reaching the hurdles the sheep penned in by which, frightened, either by the fox jumping in among them, or by the cry of the hounds, had broken down the enclosure, and bolted in all directions he was addressed by several persons who had reined up near the spot, on the subject of his fall. We all know the tone of mingled commiseration, congratulation, and chaff adopted under such circumstances towards a man who is evidently none the worse for his mischance, so with a single exception the reader shall be spared the various phases to which the dismounted foreigner was called upon to reply as best he might.

"Good morning, Monsieur le Vicomte," the master of the hounds said to him, with cheerful politeness, "you have come to look at our East Middleshire to some purpose. A good start nearly all to yourself, as pretty a sharp thing as we've had for some time and a personal acquaintance with our Eng

lish soil in very good company. I believe if I had'nt been on positively the best water jumper in my stable, I should have got into that nasty brook ditch myself-Black Man's ditch they call it-But I fancied I saw you catch your mare after your fall. By the by, I think it's highly probable I shall buy that mare of Speedycut's from the manner I've seen her carry you to day."

Whether this was meant as a compliment to the Vicomte's riding, or to the mare's perfect going under a man who could not ride a bit, was difficult to decide from the speaker's tone. As was to be expected, the Vicomte adopted the sense favourable to his own vanity, and acknowledged it as such; after which he explained the circumstances under which he was for the moment without the mare.

Ten minutes elapsed before Speedycut returned on his own chesnut, leading the Duchess, nor was he at all too soon, for a move was evidently now being made by such of the field as were nearest to the hounds.

"It's a Holloa!" cried Tom Leadstone, who, with Juliana and Frank, had been among the first to address the Vicomte in the manner above mentioned; "It's off to the right, up the hill. There again! Come along Juliana! Our line lies along that there edge." And the Squire of Lentworth led the way indicated by him, Juliana and Frank following.

And a Holloa it was-though rather distantly and feebly

uttered.

"It's a boy!" cried somebody.

"Ay, there he stands," added somebody else. "I'll lay fivepence to fifteenpence its a false 'olloa!" shouted Speedycut. "Them boys 'olloas for 'ollerings sake."

"Devil a bit o' false 'olloa," put in the farmer who had shared the Vicomte's good start. "Just look at Will.” In fact Will was now to be seen by all, waving his cap in the direction of the boy's holloa, indicating thereby his belief in it. Instantly there was a general move that way, in which the Vicomte was about to join, when he felt his shoulder tapped by a hunting whip.

You've

"I say Vicomte,"exclaimed the tapper, who proved to be Lumley Berrington, "Stop a bit, and listen to me. been doing very well. My advice to you is to let well alone.

It has been short though sweet. All things considered you've not had a bad three guineas' worth. Going away to that holloa means taking a tremendous brook out there to the left, and what's more, taking it in cold blood, for at best it's a toss up which way the fox has gone, judging from the pottering, uncertain hanging about of the hounds. Now that sort of larking may be very well for some fellows, my sprightly young Pater, for instance, but it is'nt the thing for me, and I don't recommend it to you."

"Do you think the boy's holloa was false?" asked Miles, who now came up.

"Never mind whether it was or was not, Pater," answered Lumley. "If it was, Charley has had ample time to take care of himself; if it was not, I'll tell the Vicomte exactly what's going to happen. You see that piece of fallow half way up the hill, don't you, Vicomte?"

"Fallow! fallow! Ah! En jachère, Yes, yes.

"Good, Now follow yonder line of hedgerow trees as far as the spinny. Well, if one thing on earth is more certain than another, it is that our famous straight fox has done us, changed his mind, slipped into that spinny for breathing time en route back to Lentworth gorse."

"I won't say you are right, Lumley," said Miles, "but admitting you are, if the hounds dislodge Charley again from Lentworth gorse to-day, I'll eat him, brush, pads and all."

"You hear that, Vicomte; then the best thing you can do," Lumley resumed, "is to canter with me quietly up this hill side, and get into the wake of Leadstone and his young people. At the top we shall come to a line of gates, which, with your un deniable timber-jumper, you have my full permission to go over, but which I shall take the liberty to go through. We shall, in the meantime, see all our sanguine friends down along the bottom, going over, or into that big brook; and I do assure you there is no fun equal to it, when you're convinced in your own mind the labour's all taken in vain, and that you, who stand on your own proud eminence, are as safe to come in for whatever sport there may be as those who are pumping out their

horses in the bottom."

The Vicomte, it need scarcely be said, asked nothing better than to follow this prudent advice, so away the