112 THE MERRY GEE-GEE 



yzidgment. To commence with, they 

 gallop most of the way to cover on their 

 first horse, who (sweating freely) they let 

 stand at the cover corner, for they were 

 late at the meet, and he contracts a 

 chill to start the day with. As soon as 

 hounds run, they continually jump the 

 wrong side of every fence that faces them 

 at right angles, taking on the plough 

 where they might have had the grass. 

 With hounds feathering half a field ahead, 

 and a doubt as to whether they had run 

 heel a few yards, they go blundering over 

 the wide drain with the rotten bank far 

 side a little to the left. They are no 

 sooner over than the second whip's 

 halloa back to the right compels them 

 to jump back, with the rotten bank on 

 the take-off side. They never pick the 

 furrow down the long plough-field ; they 

 bucket their horse the first quarter of 



