1 66 HUNTING THE GRISLY. 



men who had ridden over direct from their 

 country-houses. If the meet was an important 

 one, there might be a crowd of onlookers in 

 every kind of trap, from a four-in-hand drag 

 to a spider-wheeled buggy drawn by a pair of 

 long-tailed trotters, the money value of which 

 many times surpassed that of the two best hun- 

 ters in the whole field. Now and then a break- 

 fast would be given the hunt at some country- 

 house, when the whole day was devoted to the 

 sport ; perhaps after wild foxes in the morn- 

 ing, with a drag in the afternoon. 



After one meet, at Sagamore Hill, I had the 

 curiosity to go on foot over the course we had 

 taken, measuring the jumps ; for it is very 

 difficult to form a good estimate of a fence's 

 height when in the field, and five feet of tim- 

 ber seems a much easier thing to take when 

 sitting around the fire after dinner than it does 

 when actually faced while the hounds are run- 

 ning. On the particular hunt in question we 

 ran about ten miles, at a rattling pace, with 

 only two checks, crossing somewhat more than 

 sixty fences, most of them post-and-rails, stiff 

 as steel, the others being of the kind called 

 " Virginia " or snake, and not more than ten 

 or a dozen in the whole lot under four feet in 

 height. The highest measured five feet and 

 half an inch, two others were four feet eleven, 

 and nearly a third of the number averaged 

 about four and a half. There were also sev- 

 eral rather awkward doubles. When the 

 hounds were cast off some forty riders were 

 present, but the first fence was a savage one, 



