CHAPTER III. 



THE BEST RUN I EVER SAW. 



MANY hunting men would find it difficult, I do not 

 doubt, to say definitely which was the best day of 

 their lives. Indeed there are many things wanted to 

 make up a good run, and even more to make it an 

 enjoyable. In the first place there must be a burning 

 scent and hounds must run fast. Then you must 

 have a good straight-necked fox, who must get well 

 away without getting headed. Thirdly, your mount, 

 " the fiddle to which you are the bow," must not only 

 be as good as a horse can be, but he must be in good 

 condition and fit to run for a man's life. Fourthly, 

 your own nerve must be in rare order. There must 

 have been none of those late hours and smoking- 

 room symposia which make many a man inclined to 

 " see what's the other side " of his fences. The man's 

 condition must be equal to his horse's, or, when the 

 former begins to fail, the latter can give him no help. 

 The country must be favourable also, and nearly if not 

 quite all grass. The fences, while big enough to weed 

 out the profanum vulgus, must be neither unjumpable 



