Hunting in the Golden Days. 71 



over the other by viewing the course previous to the 

 eventful day. 



At first Winebold seems to be rather the favourite, 

 6 to 4 being laid on him in guineas, but when it leaks 

 out that the excitement may perhaps cause him to take 

 too much nourishment before the contest, the betting 

 falls back to evens. 



Still, everybody feels that Winebold has an excellent 

 chance of winning, especially as he possesses a tip-top 

 man in his stable for getting horses into condition. 

 Before this fellow entered Mr. Winebold's employ he 

 was for some years in the service of a certain Mr. 

 Mouldy, M.F.H., a very stingy man, who was familiarly 

 known as Miser Mouldy. This gentleman, with all his 

 parsimonious habits, had a great passion for fox-hunting, 

 and a good knowledge of the craft to boot. Not that his 

 hobby cost him anything ; far from it. Some went so 

 far as to say that he made a profit out of keeping the 

 hounds ; but Miser Mouldy was a man in a thousand, 

 and a wonderful manager, for not only did he arrange 

 to have his hunting for nothing, but contrived to run 

 the establishment with Payne (the man who is now in 

 Mr. Winebold's service) and a boy about sixteen. 

 Certainly the master lent a hand in an emergency, but 

 the rule of his house was early to rise and late to bed. 



" No human being requires more than four or five 

 hours' sleep," Miser would say, " and those who think 

 they do ain't no good to me." 



Being a bachelor and a woman-hater, the miser 

 lived his own life, hunting his hounds three days a 

 week, during the season, Payne and the boy whipping 

 in for him. He entertained as few guests as possible; 

 not that many were eager to accept his hospitality, for it 

 was of the roughest kind. When Payne accepted the 



