294 SOME HUMOURS OF THE CHASE 



and repeated this performance three times, will be 

 remembered. The incident must have been about the 

 most comical ever witnessed out hunting. 



"What the devil are you doing there?" was the 

 rather inane inquiry by a gentleman of a second horse- 

 man, who was floundering about up to his armpits 

 in very green-looking water. " Only gathering water- 

 cresses for supper," was the unruffled reply ; '* what 

 the did you think I was up to ? " 



Open water that cannot be forded but must be leaped 

 is not often met with in Ireland, but when it appears 

 it never fails to afford " divarsion." 



A few years ago I was out hunting on the occasion 

 of an "exchange meet," when a neighbouring pack 

 had come down to have a day in the country. I cannot 

 say that I much appreciate these invitation days. They 

 invariably give rise to jealousy and unsportsmanlike 

 rivalry in the matter of riding, which is very antago- 

 nistic to sport, for hounds seldom get any chance of 

 fair play on these occasions, when " show me a Meath 

 man till I lep on the small of his back " is the style 

 of business that prevails. On the day in question, 

 however, a fair gallop was brought off, and, as luck 

 would have it, after crossing a little bit of stiff country, 

 a hona-fide brook (Hibernice, " a river ") appeared in 

 front. There was a great scatteration and several 

 duckings, a lady, I regret to say, getting about the 

 worst. Had there been additional jumping powder 

 served out that day, I wonder, or did the presence 

 of the visitors' pack account for all the strange and 

 daring feats, we saw ? When the scrimmage was at 

 its height, one welter-weight rode down to the water's 



