CHAPTER IX. 



You ask if the old man was always so courteous in 

 his reproofs ? Well, I have known him speak out on 

 more occasions than one, but then he was only mortal. 

 I remember on one occasion, in the West Woods, one 

 of those " abominations," as I call them, being out, 

 viz. a nondescript kind of man, with a young cast- 

 off weed, not good enough to train for regular racing, 

 but which might possibli/ do something for a hunter's 

 stake, with no more qualification for a hunter about 

 him than a tom cat. Well, I believe these useless 

 animals are sent out "with hounds," that is, they appear 

 occasionally, when hounds are out, to qualify (?), and 

 after getting in everybody's way, and frequently 

 showing temper in a crowd, go home again as soon as 

 hounds begin to run, and are rarely seen after they 

 have killed their fox. I was comiDg down a narrow 

 lane with the old man, when the aforesaid groom tried 



