Across Country: a sporting romance

Chapter I

Jack Merton sat meditating over breakfast, a meal he took punctually at seven o'clock every morning except on Sundays, when an extra hour was indulged in between the sheets. Jack invariably allowed himself half an-hour for his morning repast ; but this morning he had considerably exceeded his usual allowance of time. Generally he was systematic in his hours, whether of business or pleasure, and especially at meal times. He had evidently enjoyed an excellent breakfast, considering the state of the break fast table, but now he appeared to be very thoughtful, and on his face was a serious look. Jack Merton, moreover, who always prided himself on his polished manners, was now very remiss, for although he deemed a ser- A viette a necessity, this morning it had rolled unnoticed on the floor. Most men, as a rule, after having enjoyed a good breakfast, feel satisfied with them selves, everybody and everything, and it takes much worry and bother to upset them.

It requires very little to upset the temper of a man who has made a bad breakfast, for he feels that he has commenced the day badly, and naturally he blames his wife, if he has one, or whoever presides at the table, for it. The cat purring softly before the fire gets a kick, and the poor wife, if she is in question, who may be particularly fond of the cat, remonstrates with her better half in vain. The wife may ask her husband, in a soft, musical voice which once he used to think so sweet, " Won't you take another cup of coffee, Tom, dear ? " The kind lady gets a grunt for a reply, instead of receiving an answer to her question in a kind and and polite tone of voice from her "dear Tom," who says he does not want choking with dregs. The good woman, having exhausted her persuasive powers, remains silent.

She intended going out that morning to purchase a new bonnet, or some ribbons, and a few other requisites, but, seeing the ruffled state of her husband's generally calm demeanour, she wisely de fers her shopping excursion for a calmer day. Women are very keen and susceptible, es pecially concerning domestic affairs, and like to be praised for their careful and efficient management of that particular branch of a household, but they dislike a man to go prying about and finding fault with what he does not understand. 11 Man for the field, and woman for the hearth : Man for the sword, and for the needle she : Man with the head, and woman with the heart : Man to command, and woman to obey : All else confusion." The disappointed man may be riding a nervous young horse along a road ; the horse shies out at a heap of stones by the roadside or a bird flying suddenly out of the hedge.

The ill-tempered man on horseback administers a severe thrashing to the poor animal, which is in most cases, as regards young horses, especially if they are nervous, unadvisable ; if the man's temper was in a smooth state, the young animal would experience kinder con sideration from its rider — a coaxing word and a pat, instead of a whack. When a man's temper is uneven, defenceless women and dumb animals often come in for a considerable amount of bullying, as both classes have a natural nervous temperament, and are seldom able to retaliate or defend them selves. Though Jack Merton had eaten a considerable meal, it did not seem to have the same desired effect that it generally had. Then, though he appeared rather down on his luck, his outward appearance gave one the impression that he was a happy-go-lucky sort of fellow.

He looked the picture of health, with his fair complexion browned through ex posure to sun, wind and weather ; there was a freshness of colour about his countenance which distinctly showed that he did not in dulge too freely in any kind of strong bever age, the fragrant weed, or in the ordinary vices peculiar to the male sex. He was not particularly handsome, but yet he attracted the attention of both sexes. His hair was of a rich brown ; his eyes were of a clear blue description, like violets, and in them shone the light of honesty, kindness and courage ; his mouth, when opened to its widest ex tremity, resembled a small cavern, but de termination was written thereon ; his eyebrows were thick and even, and the eyelashes were long ; he had a peculiar way of lowering those long eyelashes, which peculiarity the young ladies of his acquaintance thought quite fascinating.

The nose did not add any great charm to his face, and his brow, though fair and free from any wrinkles caused by worry or anxiety, indicated that he was not overburdened with a great stock of learning, for it was not at all massive, and his head did not particularly indicate the pre sence of too much brain power ; yet there was a fund of good sense in that head. His figure was tall, well-proportioned and graceful, and the sinewy, muscular limbs were powerful, and those of a pronounced athlete. Jack Merton's whole appearance was, taking one thing with another, prepossessing and pleasing to look upon — he was, in a word, a good type of a genuine young Englishman. Why then did this young man, evidently not advanced very far into the twenties, carry such a melancholy, sorrowful, and hard-put upon expression ?

The breakfast-room in which he sat was the picture of comfort, and betokened the habita tion of a sportsman. Sporting pictures hung on the walls — " Archer on Ormonde," " When Shall We Three Meet Again ? " " The Meet," "Gone Away," " Full Cry," and "The Kill," and two or three sporting caricatures being the most prominent. A rifle, two guns, a duck gun, a pair of skates, aud two pairs of boxing gloves hung over the mantelpiece. The dining-room was still more inviting. It was nicely furnished ; two large, comfortable, old-fashioned arm-chairs stood opposite each other, at each side of the fireplace ; gold and silver cups of different shapes and sizes adorned the handsome side-board, showing that Jack's ancestors had kept some good blood in the stable, especially his father, who had owned several steeplechase winners.

In a corner of the room, by the side of the side board, stood an oak case containing another collection of prizes, chiefly consisting of silver cups, salt-cellars, egg-cups, carving knives and toast-racks, numbering considerably over twenty, the result of Merton's prowess as an athlete. It would be fruitless, however, to look round the room in search of the results of Jack's studies in regard to literature. In this room sporting pictures were again very prominent, though there was more variety, there being two or three military episodes and a landscape painting. Foxes' heads and brushes were arranged artistically over the sporting pictures, showing excellent taste, which was one of Jack Merton's many good qualities. A hare's head and pads were prettily arranged over the picture, which hung above the fireplace, representing a coursing meeting.

We need not venture further into the sacred precincts of Jack's " diggings," and may now return to the breakfast-room. Merton was evidently bent on sport, for he was now arrayed in his hunting-breeches ; he had on, too, a smart sporting waistcoat, an ex ceptionally starchy collar, and a spotless white tie was visible as well ; but he had not yet donned his boots and spurs, and he had on an old morning coat. It was late in the month of March, though there were no blustering winds to remind you that it was March ; truly March had come in like a lion, but it was going out like a lamb. There had been a slight rainfall during the night ; but, as the morning advanced, the sun shone out brightly, and the wind blew softly, giving that March morning the softness of balmy May. It was a morning to gladden the heart of any hunting man.

Nature looked grand ; the grass was green and fresh, the snowdrops, crocuses, and the early spring flowers, were out in full perfection ; the sweet scented violets were out in clusters, and the chestnut trees which overspread the well-kept lawn, beyond the garden, and in front of the house, with its beautiful, soft carpet of green verdure, looked as if they longed to burst forth into their summer grandeur. In the adjoining fields, the lambs were dancing and gamboling about in their youthful ardour and happiness, full of play, and cattle and sheep grazed with a perfect composure. The black birds and thrushes whistled gaily in the shrubs and hedgerows, as though they too were gladdened by the near approach of the summer months ; two or three robins twit tered about in front of the window, as much as to say, "We shall not require any more crumbs, thank you," and two wood-pigeons were coo-cooing in the spreading chestnut trees.

Jack looked out of the window, but he was not inclined to go into ecstasies over Nature just then, though he had looked out of that same window many a time and admired the grand view, which met the eye, of miles of beautiful, rich pasture land, for which the Midlands are renowned. If the charms of spring failed to attract his attention, animal nature did not just then, for when old "Whiskey" the sheep dog got up from in front of the fire, where she had been lying, and pushed her cold nose into Jack's hand, and looked with those intelligent eyes of hers wistfully into his face, as much as to say, " What ails you, master ? " he looked down at her and patted her fondly, saying, " Whisk, you are a beauty ! " Then old Nell, his old favourite greyhound, with jealous instinct, placed her feet on the window sill outside, and looked in at the window at her master, which brought a smile to his solemn looking features. Those intelligent, dumb animals seemed to revive his drooping spirits for a time, but he soon relapsed into his former apparent lethargy.

Chapter II

As Jack Merton still sat in the breakfast room, looking out of the window, his thoughts wandered back to his school days. He had received a good education at a private school situated in a market town that boasts of a mayor and corpora tion, and is immortalised in history as being the birthplace of the great Shake speare. Jack thought of the happy hours he had spent on the graceful waters of the Avon in the summer months, lying in an outrigger canoe in a shady nook under a willow tree, a number of which grow on the river banks, reading Whyte Melville or Hawley Smart, or scanning the columns of the Sportsman. When Jack was out of school, he left his scholastic books behind him, for he thought that too much scholastic knowledge might injure his brains, knowing that he was un fortunately blessed with a very small share thereof.

After a pull up the river as far as Hampton Lucy, he would land and ramble through the park, where the home of the Lucys stands ; the stately deer would raise their heads and stare with rude curiosity at the intruder as he went on over stiles and fences where the im mortal deer - stalker had himself climbed. Jack remembered the pleasant walks by the old parish church down by the mill, and across the rich meadows by the banks of the Avon ; often he had jumped the brook opposite the grand stand on the steeplechase course. How he always longed, when walking under the avenue of trees, which adds to the charm of the scene around its picturesque old parish church, to have a shot with his catapult at the young, cawing rooks hopping about the trees. But those rooks are on sacred ground, and are never molested.

He also recollected how, when he visited the house in Henley Street in which the greatest of poets was born, he came out of it with infinite disgust, having no admiration for the interior or the exterior of the Eliza bethan house, which hundreds of visitors, who come yearly across the vast Atlantic, go to see, and which they think is one of the chief places of interest worth seeing in this country. The annual ' Mop ' was more in Jack's line when he was at school at the Shakespearian town ; a twopenny peep at the " fat woman," in a boxing booth, or a view of "the Whitechapel murders" through glass, but his curiosity was still more refined than that. He was always de lighted to seize the opportunity to go and see Shakespeare's plays performed by first class companies at the handsome memorial theatre which stands so picturesquely by the side of the Avon.

He now pictured to himself the scene when he and Jim Shaw fought for fifty minutes in one of the meadows by the mill. Both of them were, or supposed themselves to be, desperately in love with Jane Gillson, the lovely and only daughter of a member of the milking trade, whose mother kept a small provision shop, where pretty Jane used to make herself generally useful, being, however, chiefly occupied in waiting on "the young gentlemen," who required butter, eggs, fruit or what not, and in the meantime carrying on a little quiet flirtation over the counter with those who under stood the art of winking, sighing, putting themselves into fascinating attitudes, or the meaning of a " stolen glance, the sweeter for the theft." Jane Gillson was well versed in such matters, and her mother very rarely scolded her for such frivolities, the art of which young people very soon acquire, for she was really the means of building up a brisk trade at the little shop.

Miss Gillson, being fickle and light-hearted, accepted, in this case, both the young gentlemen's advances — she did not favour one any more than the other ; to her one was as good as the other. Naturally, the two gallant young lovers became jealous of one another, and they decided to settle the dispute in the modern chivalrous style of boxing. A quiet, cool spot, by the side of the Avon, had been selected for the encounter ; and the memorable fight came off one hot day in June, before a select company, chiefly composed of Merton's and Shaw's supporters. The betting commenced with two to one against Shaw, and a little money began to circulate, though the majority of the company present were inclined to favour Merton. Merton certainly had the ad vantage of height by two or three inches, also a long reach ; but his opponent had weight in his favour, and could stand any amount of punishment, being as hard as a brick.

Altogether, the combatants were fairly well matched. The two jealous and impetuous young men entered the ring amidst the applause of their different sup porters, followed in immediate attendance by their seconds, and that important official the referee, who also acted as timekeeper. Everyone was in great expectation of a tough encounter. The officiating youths took up their allotted places, and when the two fighting youths stripped for the encounter, the enthusiasm was tremendous. Time was called, and Shaw commenced operations by striking Merton severely on the chin ; Jack retaliated by planting his left on Jim's prominent nose ; first round easy. Some very useful and scientific work was put in by both parties ; but as time went on, sparring was dispensed with, blows became heavier, science was thrown to the winds, excitement increased, and cries of " Bravo, Shaw !

" " Play up, Shaw ! " "Good old Merton ! " were heard above the general din which prevailed. As they sparred with one another at the commencement of the eleventh round both of them had had enough of it, and it appeared to be only a question of staying powers ; but, just on the call of time, Merton landed his right on Shaw's jaw, and at the same instant he felt the weight of his opponent's fist on his forehead, making him see stars and general illuminations. Down went Shaw as if he were shot, and immediately after Merton rolled over him, stunned by the blow which he had received from Shaw's big fist. Neither could respond to the numerous calls of their supporters to " get up," and the allotted interval having expired, the timekeeper called "time." Then the excited spectators called upon the referee to give his decision as to which was the victor.

After a moment's consideration that gentleman declared Merton the winner, as he was the last to fall. Jack was loudly cheered, and received numerous hearty slaps on the back as he was putting on his clothes. His right eye was completely closed, and his nose was bleeding profusely ; the bridge of Shaw's nose was barked and his face was cut about considerably. The result of the fight was that they had an interview with the headmaster, which was extremely unpleasant ; for that gentleman, after administering to them a severe lecture (he was not in a whacking humour that day), ordered them to be "gated" for a fortnight, which implied that they were to keep within the precincts of the school grounds, and write out a hundred lines of Virgil every day while their term of punishment lasted. Pretty Jane did not pine away during that time ; another lover, more suitable and more reliable than her two former lovers, had stepped up and had been accepted by the ruthless maiden.

When Jack's term of imprisonment had expired, he availed himself of the first opportunity which presented itself to visit Mrs Gillson's snug little shop. As soon as he entered, he began to cast his eye around in search for the object of his affection. This time the old lady attended to the wants of the chivalrous young man ; one plate of strawberries and cream disappeared, another and another, and still the charming made moiselle did not put in an appearance. He inquired after her health. " Oh ! she's fust rate, thank you, Mr Merton, she's just gone hout." Jack was not slow to take the hint, and after a few commonplace remarks to the buxom dame, he bade her " o-0od day." Hitherto the sound of Jack's voice alone was sufficient to bring pretty Jane with her laughing eyes behind the counter. Jack Merton now discontinued his visits to Mrs Gillson's shop, and patronised another tuck-shop instead, and he and Jim Shaw became fast friends.

How fond Jack used to be of bolster fights ! After the monitors had been their round of inspection to see that everything was quiet and orderly and all were in bed, and had turned out the gas, Jack would venture forth with his comrades to pay a hostile visit to some other dormitory. How well he remembered when he led his followers, one bitterly cold night in November, amongst them Jim Shaw, from No. B dormitory, with their pillows at the "slope arms," to invade No. C bedroom. No. B Company mustered eight fighting men, while the full strength of No. C was fifteen. Strict silence was maintained, as a flight of creaky stairs had to be ascended, which they mounted on tip-toe. They eauo-ht the fellows who occupied No. C dormitory in bed, and immediately began to belabour them with their pillows, to which the others were not slow to respond.

A regular hand-to-hand encounter took place ; and the invaders being hard pressed, Jack sounded the retreat, Shaw and himself covering their comrades while they filed out of the room, singly, and as noiselessly as they possibly could under the circumstances. Meanwhile Merton had been knocked over into a bath, and Shaw was swinging his weapon right and left to get to his friend's rescue. In the midst of the melee in rushed Mons. Chardiere, the French master, saying, "You von humbugs, vaches, cochons and brigands, can I not obtain one moment's rest without being disturbed by you vagabonds ? You two rowdy rascals, Merton and Shaw, ringleaders in all mischief, you scroundrals ! All of you in this room come to my study immediately after breakfast to-morrow morning, and allons vite Merton and Shaw to your dormitory."

The two chums were only too delighted to get the order to retire, which they obeyed with alacrity, and got into bed rather crestfallen, however. "Another week's gating, Jim," said Jack to Shaw. " Good-night ! " and in a very few minutes repeated volleys of snores showed that the occupants of No. B dormitory were fast asleep, as if nothing had happened. Next morning the French master's study was crowded to excess. After rating his visitors soundly for their riotous behaviour, he said, — "You, Merton and Shaw, write out the whole of the French irregular verbs two times, you von humbugs, you deserve a severe licking. The rest of you learn the irregular verbs by next Wednesday, and my goodness, if you make von single mistake ! You may go." And they went, highly delighted at having got off so easily.

Jack's thoughts now wandered on to athletics. How often he had jumped over all the stiles on the footpath that leads from the town to the little village of Shottery ; and then he would stroll leisurely through the village, which always seemed to him very dull and sleepy, and is never roused up from its dormant state unless by the clatter of some racehorses' hoofs as they trot through the village in strings of follow-the-leader style, or in the summer months, when numerous visitors pay a visit to Anne Hathaway's cottage, which Jack passed by continually without honouring it by so much as a glance. Jack had taken a prominent part in athletics at school. He won the hundred yards, the hundred and twenty over hurdles, and the quarter of a mile in three successive years, and the last year he was there he ran the hundred in the creditable time of lOfth seconds, cleared nineteen feet in the long jump, and five feet two inches in the high jump.

How he gloried in the Rugby games of football, which were compulsory ; the kicks and cuffs he received, when first he played, for not keeping his head down in the " scrim mage," or for going for a man's head instead of his legs. The more he played, the more he liked the game. There was nothing effemin ate about such a manly, dashing game ; and if played on gentlemanly and sportsmanlike B principles, it is neither rough nor brutal, as some people erroneously think it is. It is one of the manly, healthy pursuits which help to qualify and prepare the British youth, physically and morally, for the rough "ups and downs " which one generally experiences in the course of a lifetime, for it is a game that requires pluck, energy, endurance and determination, and the scientific part of the game calls certainly for a cool head and a good judgment.

Merton got his colours, and the team arrived at such an efficient state that a challenge was sent to a public school of some renown. The letter remained unanswered, which was considered an ungentlemanly and unsportsmanlike course to adopt. No doubt the public school considered it an affront to be challenged thus by a private school. Jack Merton smiled to himself as he re membered how Shaw, " Fatty " Brush and him self ran a dead heat for the last place in the form, on the Modern Side, equivalent to the fifth on the Classical Side, and obtained the sobriquets of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed nego. Merton left the school and went to assist his father, who was an agriculturist on an ex tensive scale. He now recalled to mind the remembrance of the many journeys, on busi ness or pleasure, he and his father had taken together to fairs, sales, markets, hunting, racing and coursing meetings.

"Now he's gone and I am left alone," were Jack's sad reflections. His father had been dead two years, and Jack was the only child. Mr Merton, senior, though a keen man of busi ness, was passionately fond of sport in all its branches. He had gone in extensively for steeplechasing, hunting and coursing, and had kept up a pack of harriers at his own ex pense. The losses he had sustained in bad investments, betting, and through the de pressed state of agriculture, had made a hole in his finances. At his father's death, Jack now found that he had left several debts behind him. " Ah ! " thought Jack to himself, " when he died I lost my best friend. I shall never forget his kindness and consideration for me. I loved him and he loved me. He died be loved and respected by all, although he did leave some debts behind.

I'm in duty bound to pay off those debts, to clear his honour from all reproach. No go," added Jack, aloud to himself, "I must let the old place and go away. It will bring me in a nice little income. My father's last words to me were, ' Jack, never allow the estate to be mortgaged.' I am decided." After a moment's hesitation he continued in an earnest tone, "I love her! but she's so confoundedly rich, and her old father is so cocky and he is as proud as Lucifer. I flatter myself she loves me — I may be wrong — but to-day, I will try to the uttermost to prove whether she really does love me, or break my neck in the attempt." Jack Merton had never known a mother's love. His mother had died during his in fancy. He often gazed in admiration at the sweet, youthful likeness of his mother that hung in the drawing-room.

Though he had never known her or even remembered seeing her, he loved her dearly, and listened with enraptured and reverent attention to any one who sounded to him her well-deserved praises. "Ah, Mister Jack! your dear mother was so kind and charitable-like. She was regular lovable, and one couldn't help a-loving of her," said one old servant. The tears rolled down Jack's face as he now thought of his mother, but they were abruptly dried up as a knock sounded at the door. "Come in!" shouted Jack, and Mary, the housemaid, entered. " If you please, sir, young Adnett says the waggoner has got the influenza very bad, and he wants to know what he is to do with old ' Bowler ; ' and Whykes says that a fox or something has worried two lambs in the night." "All right, Mary," replied Jack, "I'll be out in a minute," and with a "Yes, sir," Mary disappeared.

"More likely to be some stray dog," said Jack to himself, as he got up, yawning and stretching his legs. "A poor fox is often blamed and abused for what he never does." Jack now struck up, in a tolerably musical voice, as he went down the hall, — " There is only one cure for all maladies, sure, That reacheth the heart to its core, 'Tis the sound of a horn on a fine hunting morn And where is the heart wishing more ? It turneth the grave into gay, Makes pain unto pleasure give way ; Makes the old become young, And the weak become strong, So we'll go a-hunting to-day ! "

Chapter III

"Come in, Captain Cor bett, and have a refresher after your long morning's ride," said Jack, hospitably, to a military-looking gentleman who had just dismounted off a smart hack in Merton's stableyard, after ex changing the usual morning's salutation. "Thanks, Merton!" replied the Captain, following Jack, as the latter led the way into the dining-room. "A grand hunting morning, is it not." inquired Jack of his visitor, who had seated himself comfortably in one of the old fashioned arm-chairs, with a glass of cherry brandy before him. ' ' Certain to be a good scent to-day." " Yes, Merton, it is ! " answered the Cap tain, " and there's all appearance of there being a good scent ; but scent is a peculiarity which even the most experienced huntsmen cannot account for. I have myself seen a few extraordinary runs in snowstorms, on very wet days, or when the sun is quite bleachy, with the ground as hard as a brick floor, and the dust blowing about in clouds ; and when one would naturally expect that the scent would lie well, like this morning, for instance, I have noticed frequently that the hounds could not run at all."

The speaker was a dark, handsome, middle aged man, of tall, commanding appearance, and was arrayed in full hunting costume. Good humour, geniality and kindness were the characteristics of his handsome face. He was a man, indeed, who made a favourable impression, at the first introduction, on all classes, and on both sexes, old or young, alike. The Captain was a thorough gentleman ; he was so affable, courteous, condescending, though not showing it, and inoffensive both in manner and conversation. He was most engaging in his con versation, and could converse with fluency on almost every topic. He had travelled extensively, and had been on active service during the trying and stirring times of the Indian Mutiny ; and when he served under the brilliant late Lord Napier of Magdala in Abyssinia, he had distinguished himself at the storming and capture of King Theodore's stronghold.