226 A HUNTING CATECHISM 



a field or two ; especially is this the case if 

 there are many riders to pass who have been more 

 fortunately situated, and who block the way in 

 calm content, not attempting to hurry up, and 

 who would not be with the pack for two fields 

 if they happened for once to find themselves 

 with them. It is equally heart-breaking work to 

 find oneself on a horse too slow to get to the 

 hounds in a fast, straight gallop ; or to be 

 hampered by duffers in front, who are irre- 

 trievably causing you to lose the run. On this 

 subject Mr. Elsey makes some pithy remarks, 

 that have both pathos and humour in them. 



" All I can say is, it is a bit awkward to find 

 yourself in a biggish country, on a windy day, 

 when you have got badly away, and the hounds 

 are able to run in spite of the wind, and have not 

 yet got more than two fields in front ; and then 

 when by sharp galloping you are getting within 

 touch of them, you catch up three or four ladies 

 riding hard for a line of gates, which etiquette 

 demands you must open for them. This game 

 has to be repeated, till a road lets you get away 

 from them, either by jumping out of it, or 

 galloping on, and getting up to the hounds, if 

 only you have such luck ! " 



Most of us have been in such a strait, and Mr. 

 Elsey will have the sympathy of ardent spirits, 

 whose keenness perhaps outweighs their gallantry 

 at such an inopportune moment, more especially 

 since two have ever been held the right number 

 for company ! But the people who do these 

 things, who hesitate at the only available gap, 

 who pull up almost to a walk to go through 

 an open gate, and who canter slowly down a 

 narrow lane, when hounds are leaving the field 



