XXVIII 

 RIDING TO COVERT 



MOUNTING FOR THE START A RIDER IN A FIGHT WITH HIS 



HORSE MRS. SO-AND-SO AND OUR HUNTSMAN POSITION 



^T lacks but five minutes of the hour. The 

 cracking of the whipper-in's thong an- 

 nounces the approach of the hounds from 

 the kennels. 



''Here they come ! Here they come ! " cries every one 

 to his neighbour, and the whole company turn like the 

 minor actors in a play to see the star of the performance 

 making his entrance upon the stage. " Here they come ! " 

 The huntsman, with twenty-odd couples of hounds trot- 

 ting beside his horse, rounds the bend in the drive, and the 

 admiring crowd stand back to admit them to the lawn. 

 Bowing to right and left, he greets everybody with a 

 face brimful of smiles and cheerfulness. The whippers-in 

 are looking very smart in their velvet caps, hunting-coats, 

 top-boots, and white breeches. Their saddle- and bridle- 

 irons are polished to the last degree, and everything about 

 them is scrupulously neat, yet at the same time most 

 businesslike. Their horses, like themselves, are well 

 groomed, and as fit and well-mannered as feeding and train- 



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