hours," replied Birch.

The little hero looked a trifle mortified to find he was so far behind,
and we were quite sorry for him.

"Never mind," he said, "I ran on the scent every inch of the way, and
only pulled up once, at Wincot, for five minutes."

"You did!" exclaimed one or two voices, as we all stared admiringly at
this determined young hound.

"Yes; and a nice dance you gave a chap my size over the railway and
across those ditches! But I didn't miss a single one of them, all the
same."

"But what did you do at the canal?" asked Forwood.

"Why, swam it, of course--obliged to do it, wasn't I, if the hares went
that way? I say, is there any grub going?"

Plucky little Jim Barlow! After all, he was the hero of that "big
hunt," though he did come in two hours late.

This was the last big "hare and hounds" I ever ran in. I have many a
time since ridden with a real hunt over the same country, but never have
I experienced the same thrill of excitement or known the same exultation
at success as when I ran home with Birch, two seconds ahead of the
hounds, in the famous Parkhurst Paper-chase of 18 hundred and something.

CHAPTER THREE.

THE PARKHURST BOAT-RACE.

"Adams is wanted down at the boat-house!" Such was the sound which
greeted my ears one Saturday afternoon as I lolled about in the
playground at Parkhurst, doing nothing. I jumped up as if I had been
shot, and asked the small boy who brought the message who wanted me.

"Blades does; you've got to cox the boat this afternoon instead of
Wilson. Look sharp!" he said, "as they're waiting to start."

Off I went, without another word, filled with mingled feelings of
wonder, pride, and trepidation. I knew Wilson, the former coxswain of
the school boat, had been taken ill and left Parkhurst, but this was the
first I had ever heard of my being selected to take his place. True, I
had steered the boat occasionally when no one else could be got, and on
such occasions had managed to keep a moderately good course up the Two
Mile Reach, but I had never dreamed of such a pitch of good fortune as
being called to occupy that seat as a fixture.

But now it wanted only a week of the great race with the Old Boys, and
here was I summoned to take charge of the rudder at the eleventh hour,
which of course meant I would have to steer the boat on the occasion of
the race! No wonder, then, I was half daft with excitement as I hurried
down to the boathouse in obe