HORRIBLE STORY 123 



dogs he would not hesitate to do so, nor would he break 

 off, for that reason, from continuing to roll paste and make 

 his tarts. Often the dogs, when released, would jump on 

 to his shelves and take a passing lick at the jam-pots or 

 pastry but what mattered it to those who did not know ? 



Many happy afternoons we had with those terriers, 

 mostly beyond the Water Tower farm, for in that direction 

 we could get away without being observed. Sydney 

 Parker, though not in the photograph, was possessed of a 

 nice little bitch named Touch, bought by me for him from 

 Wootton of Mapperley, and as Jester would hunt hare or 

 rabbit as truly and persistently as a beagle our small pack 

 soon got together and developed a certain amount of 

 proficiency. 



We went so far at last as to purchase a fox that was 

 advertised in The Field as " freshly caught " and for sale. 

 The plan was to turn him down, give him ten minutes 

 law and then hunt him ; but the poor brute had evidently 

 been in captivity for a long time, and when released from 

 the bag in which he had been carried about two miles 

 from Rugby, he simply sat and looked at us. Of course 

 the terriers were yelling to be at him, but he cared not, 

 and then someone with a whip drove him away and 

 followed him over three fields. Then we let the terriers go 

 and they at once followed eagerly on the line, but alas ! the 

 poor fox had again sat down and they ran into him at 

 once and killed him. That was an adventure of which 

 we were all ashamed, though the idea, most genuinely 

 entertained, had been to give the fox a sporting chance. 

 Never again did we hunt anything but rabbits or hares, 

 and, needless to say, we accounted for very few of them. 



It may rightly enough be thought that proceedings of 

 the sort mentioned were very blameworthy when one was 

 in the Vlth and supposed to set a good example and keep 

 order ; but I never could reconcile myself to the Arnold 

 tradition, which made little gods of the Vlth form, and 

 I fear my duties were wholly neglected. Never once 

 during my three years in the Vlth did I set any other fellow 



