The ruck of the men were lower down than our two heroes, and there were others far away to the left, and others, again, who had been at the end of the gorse, and were now behind.  Our friends were not near the hounds, not within two fields of them, but the hounds were below them, and therefore could be seen.  “Don’t be in a hurry, and they’ll be round upon us,” Lord Chiltern said.  “How the deuce is one to help being in a hurry?” said Phineas, who was doing his very best to ride Bonebreaker with the snaffle, but had already began to feel that Bonebreaker cared nothing for that weak instrument.  “By George, I should like to change with you,” said Lord Chiltern.  The Lincolnshire horse was going along with his head very low, boring as he galloped, but throwing his neck up at his fences, just when he ought to have kept himself steady.  After this, though Phineas kept near Lord Chiltern throughout the run, they were not again near enough to exchange words; and, indeed, they had but little breath for such purpose.

Lord Chiltern rode still a little in advance, and Phineas, knowing his friend’s partiality for solitude when taking his fences, kept a little to his left.  He began to find that Bonebreaker knew pretty well what he was about.  As for not using the gag rein, that was impossible.  When a horse puts out what strength he has against a man’s arm, a man must put out what strength he has against the horse’s mouth.  But Bonebreaker was cunning, and had had a gag rein on before.  He contracted his lip here, and bent out his jaw there, till he had settled it to his mind, and then went away after his own fashion.  He seemed to have a passion for smashing through big, high-grown ox-fences, and by degrees his rider came to feel that if there was nothing worse coming, the fun was not bad.

The fox ran up wind for a couple of miles or so, as Lord Chiltern had prophesied, and then turned,—­not to the right, as would best have served him and Phineas, but to the left,—­so that they were forced to make their way through the ruck of horses before they could place themselves again.  Phineas found himself crossing a road, in and out of it, before he knew where he was, and for a while he lost sight of Lord Chiltern.  But in truth he was leading now, whereas Lord Chiltern had led before.  The two horses having been together all the morning, and on the previous day, were willing enough to remain in company, if they were allowed to do so.  They both crossed the road, not very far from each other, going in and out amidst a crowd of horses, and before long were again placed well, now having the hunt on their right, whereas hitherto it had been on their left.  They went over large pasture fields, and Phineas began to think that as long as Bonebreaker would be able to go through the thick grown-up hedges, all would be right.  Now and again he came to a cut fence, a fence that had been cut and laid, and these were not so pleasant.  Force was not sufficient