loo Frank Beers ^ Hunts?nan. 



XX. 



And well for him it was just then whose nag had got some 



breeding, 

 For those on cocktails saw with grief the chase was swift 



receding, 

 And would-be thrusters urged and spurred their nags without 



remorse, 

 Until they found themselves on foot, and crying " Catch my 



horse." 



XXI. 



With dirty coats and broken hats the natty field was fleckered, 

 And some found to their cost that day a sportsman's life is 



chequered. 

 And not a few aspiring souls who needs must foremost be 

 Were scratched about the eyes and nose and chin most 



piteously. 



XXII. 



O'er ridge-and-furrow fields we flew as fast as we could go, 

 The whitethorn fences in the Vale uncommon hairy grow ; 

 Nigh every fence a bullfinch is, and where the light of day 

 Peeps through a space most usually a lawyer stops the way. 



XXIII. 



Just here and there a flight of rails confers a fairer leap. 

 But such the pace that few can now afford to hold them cheap. 

 The gates are few and far between, the seeming friendly gap 

 As oft as not will prove a most uncompromising trap. 



XXIV. 



The biggest and the blackest place is often safer far 

 Than where the wide hiatus doth a fence's outline mar. 

 Although of leaping ditches wide one's hunter may be fond, 

 But few in an emergency can clear the darkling pond. 



