CHASING AND RACING 81 



at, and crabbing you to me ; so I asked Tom Firr what 

 he thought of your performance. His reply was, ' I 

 have never seen hounds better hunted/ There ! 

 what do you think of that ? May I remark that I 

 heartily endorse his opinion ? " 



Vanity and colossal conceit of me to publish this, 

 you will say ! I don't care ! I have reason to be 

 proud of the pronouncement ; especially in view of 

 the persistent way in which some of my followers 

 (members of the committee, too, who should have 

 known better) belittled my efforts from the very 

 commencement of my mastership. 



I should not have known what was going on behind 

 my back had it not been for the invaluable information 

 conveyed by the redoubtable Ted, who not only 

 relieved me of the clerical, financial, and managerial 

 duties attaching to my office, but also acted as Field 

 Master, a position which was by no manner of means 

 a sinecure ; for at times I was hampered by very 

 plethoric and unruly fields, apt to over-ride hounds, 

 foil the line, head the fox, and make themselves 

 generally objectionable. But Ted was a solid stand 

 by and managed by firmness tempered with tact 

 to keep them in something like order, so that I was 

 able to concentrate on my hound work, and my one 

 objective, viz. the legitimate hunting of and accounting 

 for " Joshua." 



But, even so, my task would have been a particu- 

 larly puzzling and arduous one (for the physical 



