Truman Villebois, Esq., and the H,H. 105 



you must excuse my going out with you.' Accordingly 

 the men and hounds were sent out, and we had a long 

 bad day in drenching rain. Such a man could not fail 

 to have complete control over his field : a quiet word 

 of admonition from him had more effect than violent 

 language from some other men. If the horsemen were 

 pressing too close upon Forster, when he was casting 

 his hounds in the open (a frequent cause of mischief 

 in Hampshire), it was sufficient for Villebois to rein 

 in his horse, and exclaim with his sonorous and some- 

 what stern voice, * Gentlemen, I fancy the hounds are 

 checked ! ' in order to make every man remember that 

 he was wrong. I once witnessed a very remarkable 

 instance of this calm assertion of authority. We had 

 found in Preston Oakhills, and the fox had gone away 

 at the upper end, along the broad green lanes leading 

 to where Barkham House then stood. A white frost 

 was going off, and the scent was weak. The fox 

 threaded the right hand hedgerow, running a little way 

 on the field side, and a little way on the lane side of 

 the fence alternately, in a manner which must have 

 made it difficult for the best sportsmen to avoid getting 

 before hounds. Villebois saw the danger, and turning 

 to the mass of horsemen, not yet dispersed, but 

 crowded together in the broad lane, he put Forster and 

 Sawyer forward, saying, * Now, gentlemen, if you 

 please, let no one else go before me while we are in this 

 lane.' He was implicitly obeyed. After the fox had 

 threaded the hedgerow in this manner for some time, 

 carefully hunted by the hounds, he turned to the right 

 across a field, pointing towards Bradley Wood, when 

 hounds laid down their sterns and began to run, and 

 Villebois, turning round, took off his hat, and said. 



