CHAPTER VI 



GETTING TO WORK 



' ' When autumn is flaunting her banner of pride 

 For glory that summer has fled. 

 Arrayed in the robes of his royalty, dyed 



In tawny and orange and red ; 

 When the oak is yet rife with the vigour of life 



Thd his acorns are dropping below, 

 Thrd bramble and brake shall the echoes awake 

 To the ring of a clear ' Tally-ho ! ' " 



— Whyte-Melville. 



ONE of the closing days of September saw 

 I us, about 6 A.M., turn our horses' heads 

 away from our summer quarters and point 

 towards the lower country, to take possession of the 

 kennels made ready for us in the so-called Forest 

 country proper, to make acquaintance with the people 

 and the country, and to begin the serious business 

 of regular hunting. 



Not without regret did we leave behind the scene 

 of our first efforts and get off the moorland track on 

 to macadamised roads, between hedgerows, through 

 cultivated land. 



About half-way, to our anxiety, we heard hounds 

 in chase in the distance, and realised we were in 

 danger of joining in with the '' Duke's." Trotting back 

 for half a mile, we held hounds up till the cry ceased. 



We would fain have shut our own hounds up and 



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