HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS. 55 



before she saw him) — " Scrap," and " Mite," a 

 Yorkshire terrier. 



" Mite " was a tiny dog weighing about one 

 pound. What breed I don't know, but in ap- 

 pearance he was very odd, as he was cHpped ta 

 match the poodle. Three birds and two mice 

 completed the party, and luggage to correspond. 



The next morning the meet was at " The 

 Shepherd and Dog," Grays Hill. So off we 

 went, my father driving a high old phaeton. 

 You could turn it about as you Hked; on this 

 occasion the hood was on the back seat. My 

 mother went with us. For some unknown 

 reason one of the Lancer men had been sent on 

 with the horses ; he did not know his way, and 

 after an agonizing half-hour at " The Shepherd 

 and Dog " — where, needless to say, no horses 

 were to be found — he turned up, having entirely 

 lost himself and gone round by Pitsea. There- 

 was not much doing all the first part of the day. 

 Scent was poor, no doubt the rain which came 

 down in the afternoon had something to do with 

 it. Anyhow, matters improved when we found 

 a fox in Lady Wood, ran through Swan Wood^ 

 Bretts, Cowbridge, on to Ingrave, through 

 Thorndon Park, out the Childerditch side, back 

 to the Park, ran round several times ; when, as 

 it was getting dark and rain coming down in 

 torrents, we said we would go home. By the 

 time we got through Herongate to the cross 

 roads — one way going to Billericay by Bottle- 

 down Hill, the other to Wickford by Dunton 

 Blacksmiths and the Fortune of War — It was 

 too dark to see the signpost, and I did not know 



