32 ON GOING TO COVERT 



winter leave were spent with an uncle who w^as a 

 great supporter of the chase, and gave me one of 

 my first hunters, I used often to be on tenterhooks 

 at his dilatory proceedings in the morning ; but he 

 had a pair of right good roadsters in the Perth 

 dogcart that did the ten miles into the country town 

 easily in the hour. So my anxiety ended when I 

 got up beside him ; only to begin again, however, if 

 the meet was beyond the town, for he invariably 

 insisted on doing a bit of shopping on his way 

 through it; and I'm afraid when the kind old man 

 was inside one of his favourite shops I almost hated 

 him, and felt inclined to loose the reins I held and 

 drive off without him. Since those old days I have 

 never been able to master that fear of being behind 

 time at the fixture. 



