62 HOUND AND HORN ; 



fellow came down to him, and before he went away, 

 begged him to come up to his house sometimes, and 

 pass an hour with him of an evening. 



" Well," I said, '' Carter, go. It may do him good, 

 and can't do you any harm." 



"No, no, no," rejoined the old man, ''not I; what I 

 said, sir, were this, ' I don't drink, I don't smoke, and I 

 don't Ull no lies — so I'm no use to you.' " 



I looked the old man in the face, and, trying not to 

 laugh, said, " Oh, I'm quite ashamed of you." 



But it is well to keep the best story for the end, and 

 of all the remarks I ever heard from the old man's 

 lips the one I have now to record beats the lot. It 

 may involve a longish story, but to come at the pith of 

 it it is necessary to recount the various circumstances 

 which led up to it. 



One morning, just before or after Christmas, I forget 

 which, but it was in mid-winter, the Tedworth hounds 

 met at Redenham or Weyhill, as it was on a Thursday, 

 and, as w^as always the case whenever I did go to any 

 of those distant meets, it involved an early start, so 

 that I could go quietly on, and get my horse put in 

 for an hour or so, and fed, before he came out for the 

 day's hunting. I could not indulge in cover hacks 

 and pad grooms, and perhaps enjoyed my sport all 

 the more. Before George Carter was out of bed on 



