150 HACKS AND HUNTERS 



timber, a 4-foot fence looks almost as formidable as 

 a 5-foot-6-inch fence does to us. 



In choosing a pilot, in order to help one out of this 

 difficulty, one must remember that an English field 

 is usually divided into those who comprise the first 

 flight, and cut out the work for the others; those who 

 follow in their lead, usually men and women of an 

 older generation, who know the country so well that 

 they can manage to see the run by a minimum of jump- 

 ing and a maximum of short cuts; and those who, for 

 the most part, '"ammer, 'ammer, 'ammer on the 'ard 

 'ighroad," and constitute the "Gate Brigade." Of all, 

 the latter are the most difficult and, let it be said, 

 the most dangerous to follow. It may sound a very 

 simple and quite infantile matter to hunt by riding 

 through gates, but the remarkable beings who do it 

 have reduced the opening of gates with latches like 

 Chinese puzzles to a science, and, a hundred or so 

 strong, they open, push through en masse, and close 

 the gates with such rapidity that they often arrive 

 before those who have ridden hard and straight. 

 Should hounds turn sharply, the road riders then gain 

 the advantage, and in such cases one feels inclined to 

 lament with the man in "Riding Recollections/ 1 who 

 cries out, "I've spoilt my hat, I've torn my coat, I've 

 lamed my horse, I've had two falls, I went first, I'll 

 take my oath, from end to end, and there's that d — d 

 fellow on the coffee-coloured pony gets here before me 

 after all." In Ireland there is a road brigade, but no 

 gate brigade, for in that country gates are so few and 

 far between that even if one were obliged to pull out 

 of a run, on account of lameness or some accident, it 

 would be necessary to jump every blessed fence again 

 that had already been crossed. 



