98 In Scarlet and Silk 



the palings, found no fire in the copper, and 

 no feed ready, so without more ado the 

 Master and his friend, " handsome Jack For- 

 ster," the sobriquet by which he was known 

 throughout the army, set to to prepare them 

 a meal, fed them, and then proceeded on 

 their journey just as darkness fell. Before 

 getting half a mile they came across a drunken 

 man lying in the middle of Shooters' Hill 

 Eoad, and when they went like good Samari- 

 tans to pull him out of the way of being run 

 over, lo and behold ! the missing kennel-man. 

 The first words he uttered were unfortunate 

 ones for himself. He said on recognising 

 Colonel Lynes, " I've fed the hounds ! " As 

 Colonel Lynes, although the best-hearted man 

 in the world, doesn't wear wings or travel 

 about with a portable halo, deponent sayeth 

 not what then took place, but the proceedings 

 did not commence with prayer. 



At that period the Master had to find his 

 own Whip, and Colonel Lynes's head groom 

 turned them to him during his tenure of 

 office. The only attempt at a hunt uniform 



