ackward slide, and a flounder; in two seconds more, I had drawn myself
with some difficulty from under my horse, who lay still on his side, too
wise, at first, to struggle unavailingly. If long hunting experience
makes a man personally rather indifferent about accidents, it also
teaches him when there is danger to the animal he rides; looking at
Falcon's utter helplessness and the constrained twist of his hind legs,
which I tried in vain to straighten, I began to have uncomfortable
visions of ricked backs and strained sinews: I was on the wrong side of
the river, too, for help; though even the rope of a Dublin Garrison
"wrecker" would have helped but little then. Thrice the good horse made
a desperate attempt to stand up, and thrice he sank back again with the
hoarse sigh, between pant and groan--half breathless, half
despairing--that every hunting man can remember, to his cost. It was
impossible to clear the saddle-bags without cutting them; I had drawn my
knife for this purpose, when a fourth struggle (in which his fore-hoofs
twice nearly struck me down), set Falcon once more on his
feet--trembling, and drenched with sweat, but materially uninjured. I
contrived to scramble into the saddle, and we plunged into the ford
again, heading up stream, till we struck the real gap, which was at
least thirty yards higher up. It is ill trusting to the accuracy of a
native's _carte du pays_. Another league brought me to the way-side hut
where I was instructed to ask for fresh guidance.

"Right over the big pasture, to the bars at the corner--then keep the
track through the wood to the 'improvements'--and the house was close
by." Such were the directions of the good-natured mountaineer, who
offered himself to accompany me: but this I would by no means allow.

Now, an up-country pasture, freshly cleared, is a most unpleasant place
to cross, after nightfall: the stumps are all left standing, and felled
trees lie all about--thick as boulders on a Dartmoor hillside; then,
however, a steady moon was shining, and Falcon picked his way daintily
through the timber, hopping lightly, now and then, over a trunk bigger
than the rest, but never losing the faint track: we got over the high
bars, too, safely, hitting them hard. The wood-path led out upon a
clearing, after a while: here I was fairly puzzled. There was no sign of
human habitation, except a rough hut, some hundred yards to my right,
that I took to be an outlying cattle-shed: there w