Se CHASING AND RACING 



buff/* they were looked upon as the finest horsewomen 

 of the O.B.H. As long as the supply of fur held out 

 we could always be sure of showing first-rate sport ; 

 especially in that part of the country which included 

 the grass lands of the Aylesbury Vale. Here was a 

 gallant race of hares. If and when found, puss, after 

 one ring, would go straight off to the Chiltern Hills, 

 sometimes giving us a burst of over two miles, cut 

 short on some occasions by a ** worry worry '* ; for my 

 little jelly dogs could hop it to a lively tune when scent 

 was propitious or when they could race away, close to 

 the scut. 



But there came a time when the numbers of the 

 quarry became smaller and smaller, and unbeautifully 

 less, for this was in the days when the effect of ** the 

 Ground Game Act " was beginning to make itself 

 unpleasantly obvious. 



So there were occasions when even the keen eye 

 of Jack Westrup, and his intimate knowledge of the 

 ways and wiles of " Madam " failed us. Blank days 

 were all too frequent, and at last I was driven to the 

 purchase of a hard-bitten stag, to vary the monotony 

 and to give our farmer friends and other followers a 

 bit of a gallop. Personally I hold no brief for stag- 

 hunting in any shape or form. Least of all the hunting 

 of the so-called "wild'* beast by the Devon and 

 Somerset S.H. I have heard those cranks who want 

 to differentiate between the degrees of cruelty entailed 

 in the pursuit of field sports say sententiously, ** I can 



