36 Random RBCoiyLECTioNS of the 



whicli they passed had long been in bed, 

 Goodall was well-known to most of the 

 labourers through the country, and on return- 

 ing from hunting was frequently accosted by 

 them as to the day's sport, each man having 

 something to relate as to his solicitude for a 

 litter of cubs, or the facilities he had afforded 

 by unchaining gates, or other services in the 

 good cause — of course, in view of the shilling 

 or half-a-crown, as the case might be, wherewith 

 to drink Will's health at '^ the public " in the 

 evening. They generally got something, and 

 declared to their comrades that " this 'untsman 

 was reckoned the best feller as had ever bin at 

 Bel voir." Will, like his master, loved a joke, 

 and one night as he was riding through one of 

 the villages on his way home from hunting after 

 dark, he happened to pass a butcher's shop, on 

 the window-board of which the knight of the 

 cleaver had exposed various appetising cuts. 

 The hungry pack no sooner winded the dainty 

 morsels, than, quick as thought, before the 

 whips could interfere, one of the foremost 

 made a grab at some tempting spareribs 

 that lay handiest. In less time than it takes 

 to write, these were consumed by the struggling 

 hounds, with Will, seeing it would be of little 



