110 ON THE GRAMPIAN HILLS. 



Stollery the Railway Hotel and confiding to the 

 hostess of that well-managed hostelry that I needed 

 refreshment before commencing the arduous duties 

 of the day, and that I required merely the simplest 

 fare in fact, explaining that what little I took I 

 liked to be of the best, I repaired to the stables to 

 look after my steed. At that moment there appeared 

 on the scene a pack of hounds, consisting of nine 

 couples and a half of useful-looking animals, which 

 upon inquiry, I found were the well-known lot 

 of draghounds, now the property of Mr. Herbert 

 Rymill, whose residence is in the vicinity of Staines, 

 which Mr. Pitcher was taking out for a little exercise. 

 These hounds, I am told, show rare sport to those who 

 enjoy following a drag, every one being a foxhound, 

 entered to this particular style of sport, and enabling 

 those who ride to them to enjoy a right-down good 

 gallop over a carefully-selected line of country. In- 

 tending on a future occasion to try my fortune with 

 them, I retired to my hostelry and made a fierce 

 onslaught on the roast-beef and other luxuries I found 

 awaiting me, after which I mounted my steed, who 

 was as fresh as paint and desirous of showing how 

 thoroughly light-hearted he was, to which end he 

 jumped about and disported himself so gaily that I 

 thought it advisable to give him a breather across 

 some of the meadows adjacent to the town. Having 

 allowed him to play the wag for awhile, I trotted him 

 away sharply until I reached Wraysbury Church, 

 where I fell in with the hounds. Before, however, 

 business commenced, Mr. Birch insisted that all the 

 " field " should partake of his hospitality, and George 

 Farr and his whip having retired with the pack to the 



