130 THE MERRY GEE-GEE 



garden wall, but the leading hound 

 pulled him back by the tag. However, 

 after a roll over, he succeeded in scaling 

 the wall, and the hounds, all following, 

 clean knocked over two young children 

 of mine who were at play the other side. 

 We killed the fox in the garden, and 

 Lord Waterford "blooded" those two 

 young ones, who, I regret to record, 

 both died of diphtheria a couple of years 

 later. I have kept that fox's mask, 

 although I have been sold up stick and 

 stone once or twice since then. No man 

 is fonder of his children than I, and out 

 of fifteen I still have eleven amongst 

 which to divide my affections. 



There's another fox's mask facing me 

 as I write — a memento of the very best 

 run I ever saw. It was in the winter of 

 '79-80. We had two tremendous long 

 frosts, with an interval of about two 



