124 MEMORIES OF THE SHIRES 



and the date of the race. The Fanes then occupied 

 the Old Club at Melton, and they invited the com- 

 petitors to dine. Unless my memory is at fault, 

 we all sat down in hunting rig camouflaged with 

 nightgowns, and a very merry dinner-party it was. 



Shortly before midnight the horses were brought 

 to the door, and their iron-shod hoofs clattering on 

 the cobblestones awoke the vicar from his sleep, 

 which so annoyed the poor man that he took the 

 liberty of denouncing the "unrighteous crew" from 

 the pulpit for disturbing his peaceful slumbers, using 

 as his text, " Have no fellowship with the unfruitful 

 works of darkness." 



Someone must have made a mistake with the 

 almanac, as instead of a full moon, which we had 

 been told to expect, it was a pitch dark night. 

 However this little detail was overcome by the 

 kindness of the stationmaster, who lent us railway 

 lamps. 



According to precedent all the competitors were 

 to put on nightgowns over their other clothes ; but, 

 as most men wear pyjamas, the articles had to be 

 borrowed from ladies for the occasion. 



The course was about a mile out of Melton, and 

 was over some four or five fields, with, perhaps, 

 double that number of fences to jump. 



In spite of the shortness of notice, and the fact 

 that until the morning before neither time nor date 

 had been fixed, quite a large crowd had assembled. 

 The spectators could have seen very little, as it was 

 impossible to distinguish anything clearly beyond a 

 radius of about three yards. 



It sounds rather silly now, but the race itself 

 was very good fun, and quite exciting. The most 



