58 THE IMAGE OF WAR 



field succeeded in driving our fox from his point, and 

 exactly at the hour he broke over Blounce Farm. At 

 first hounds were able to drive him at a good pace, 

 but the farther we went the worse things seemed to 

 get. 



Fencing, of course, in that country there was little 

 or none, but to hound-lovers the run was of some 

 interest. Patiently the huntsman and hounds worked 

 out the line, till at last, just as I was beginning to 

 think it was all U P, the huntsman got a view a few 

 fields on, and capped the pack on to it. This changed 

 the aspect of affairs altogether, and at eight minutes 

 past two hounds pulled their fox down in a hedgerow 

 close to Crondall. This was very convenient for the 

 Aldershot party, who mostly went home. 



The following Wednesday was Boxing Day, and a 

 cheerful holiday crowd had assembled to meet the 

 Chiddingfold at the lofty elevation of Hindhead, 

 where, and in the neighbouring district of Haslemere, 

 I believe, nowadays, a colony of cockneyfied villas has 

 spung up. 



There cannot be many prettier spots in England 

 for foot - people to see drawn by hounds than the 

 Punchbowl at Hindhead, and this Boxing Day they 

 were clustered in hundreds round its upper acclivities, 

 while hounds w^orked their way through the gorse and 

 heather below. It reminded one more of Exmoor 

 hunting than anything else. 



Ere long a fox was on foot and broke away to the 

 eastward. At first hounds were rather inclined to 

 ' string one after another through the high growth, but 

 presently the going became better for them, and the 

 foot-people saw the last of us. For half an hour they 

 ran fast, and by that time they had got into the big 



