POX-HUNTING TYPES 250 



to the late Duke of Beaufort, says : " I do believe that 

 now, in any part of Gloucestershire, with ten couple 

 of the badger-pyed and a horn, he could go out and 

 kill his fox in a Bath-chair ! " 



It is astonishing how, when the mind of the clever 

 hunter on wheels is quickly made vip, even in a fast 

 thing, he is usually able to see something of hounds, 

 and always something of the field, or at any rate of a 

 part of it, and probably that part which affords the most 

 amusement. A good many years ago, in the Carlow 

 country, I was disabled for about three weeks, and 

 during that time on most hunting days I was given 

 a seat in the dog-cart of a very popular lady, who 

 was quite the best fox-hunter on wheels I have ever 

 seen ; and as the " gun-carriage," as her trap was 

 nicknamed, was always stored with good things, and 

 I was employed to dispense these, I found also that 

 a measure of her popularity had attached itself to 

 me, which restoration to the saddle, I fear, dispersed. 

 Only once when we drove together did we taste the 

 bitterness of entire defeat, but the course of the chase 

 lay from east to west, and all the roads seem to run 

 north and south. How we did scuttle along, leader 

 of a whole string of vehicles, which always blindly 

 followed my charioteer ! And, worst of all, their 

 occupants loudly blamed her for going wrong — "just 

 as if I asked them to follow," as she justly remarked. 

 But as a matter of fact, on this occasion hounds raced 

 from Rathdaniell Gorse to Russellstown almost quite 

 straight, and, though we saw the find and opening 

 burst, we had no means of following the line of the 

 chase. 



