BY INVITATION S7 



Meanwhile I was mentally running over the 

 phraseology of my letter of gratitude accepting the 

 good offer, and considering which horses and hounds 

 I would take, with a determination to present the best 

 available appearance. 



The announcement duly appeared : — 



THE FOREST FOX-HOUNDS WILL MEET AT IO.3O A.M. 



ON SATURDAY, DEC. 6, MARCHFIELD 



(By Invitation) 



All the followers of our little pack looked forward 

 with intense eagerness to the day. 



Fortune did not favour the Hunt during the inter- 

 vening time, for in the last days of November a run 

 of calamities had occurred in rapid succession. Tom 

 Telfer was down with influenza, which scourge had 

 also prostrated the Second Whip and another stable 

 lad ; two of the horses were off, and three couple 

 of good working hounds were unfit from various 

 causes. 



The eventful morning dawned, and an inauspicious 

 start was made, most unlike what I had pictured and 

 hoped for. Instead of two natty well-turned-out 

 whips and a full pack, old Batters, in rat-catching 

 attire, and a callow stable boy, mustered a diminished 

 pack of twelve and a half couples round a dejected 

 huntsman ; old " Royal " was going short, and the 

 ^' Omega " mare was coughing. Hounds seemed to 

 be sharing the despondency, and things looked far 

 from rosy. But Batters said, ^'Yin canna ken 

 what's afore yin ; 00 micht happen on a richt 



