i62 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER 



CHAPTEE XII. 



COMICALITIES OF THE HUNTING-FIELD. 



Of course fox-hunting, like every other pursuit (no 

 pun intended), has its comic side. When two or three 

 hundred men assemble there is sure to be some odd 

 character in the midst of them, and his oddity is 

 sure to be developed in the heat and excitement of 

 the chase. The regular hands are, as a rule, very 

 cool and business-like in their proceedings ; but 

 some of those who have not been trained to the 

 sport from infancy sometimes show an awkwardness 

 which proves amusing. 



A gentleman, for instance, who has spent the 

 best part of his life — say from seventeen to seven- 

 and-forty — in a London office cannot be expected to 

 turn out a very first-class fox-hunter when he retires 

 from business to spend the balance of his life in the 

 country ; yet such men do occasionally take to hunt- 

 ing, and if they don't derive much amusement from it 

 themselves, they are at least the cause of amusement 

 in others. Concerning one of these gentlemen, the 

 following anecdote was related a few years ago in a 

 popular sporting periodical : 



