284 THE HUNTING FIELD 



intervening, stopped all further intercourse, and they 

 saw no more of each other till the end of the run. 

 Not that either of them shirked the bullfinch, but 

 they got through at different places, and it is much 

 easier to part company than get together in a run. 

 The pace was severe. Quickest thing that ever 

 was seen ! All quick things are. Every season fur- 

 nishes a bushel of them. "A fellow feeling makes 

 us wondrous kind," they say, and in no case is the 

 truth of the adage more strongly exemplified than 

 among foxhunters. 



We often think if Frenchmen had a turn for 

 hunting, what hugging and kissing there would be on 

 a kill ! 



Shabbyhounde and Milksop had each "gone a 

 good-un," and some time was consumed in discuss- 

 ing the delightful variety and size of the leaps ere 

 Mr. Milksop again bethought him of recurring to 

 Lambkin. 



Shabbyhounde assured him he was the most 

 perfect tempered horse he had ever had in his stable, 

 and though it would be going out of his way, he 

 offered to accompany Mr. Milksop to Dunchurch to 

 prove it. 



Had Lambkin been troubled with hydrophobia, he 

 could not have been more tightly secured than they 

 found him. Tied short up to the rack, and hoppled 

 both before and behind. 



11 What's all this about ? " asked Shabbyhounde, 

 following the disconcerted Strutt into the stable. 



" Vicious ! " retorted Shabbyhounde, in reply to 

 Strutt's asseveration — "not half so vicious as the 

 man that put those on," continued he. 



Strutt, for once, was taken aback. 



The Captain proceeded to liberate the animal, 

 whose trembling, frightened manner, showed he had 

 been abused. All abused horses show this, if masters 



