THE MASTER'S EXPENSES 127 



once a hard enough rider, but now bound to look for 

 the gaps that once he sneered at, not to mention the 

 brigade of regular " gap-riders." I think I would defy 

 the hardest man in England to go straight knowing that 

 there is wire about, for, apart from the worst of falls that 

 it gives the rider, the poor horse, who is doing his best, 

 is caught suddenly by this hideous horror and gets ter- 

 ribly cut. One of the most gallant of pioneers over the 

 Northamptonshire pastures. Captain Pennell-Elmhirst, 

 killed one of the best mares and most faithful friends 

 he ever had over a little cock fence that he had been 

 over scores of times before, close to a farm. Suddenly, 

 and without warning, wire had been run through it, 

 and disaster followed swiftly. Those who witnessed 

 the catastrophe will never forget the agony of the poor 

 brute and the dreadful sight that it presented in its 

 trouble, and it would probably have gone hard with 

 the wretched individual who had the wire put up if he 

 could have been found. Every man who puts up wire 

 should have painted boards with coloured posts to 

 indicate its exact whereabouts and precise extent. If 

 it goes round the field, he should have a clear place 

 ten or twenty yards in width, flagged out like an 

 ordinary steeplechase jump for entrance into the field 

 and a second for exit. These spots might be clearly 

 indicated by red posts, and these particular portions of 

 the fence should on no account be mended with wire. 

 It would not be long before the followers of the Hunt 

 got to know the whereabouts of these safe places, and 

 the chance of fatalities would be very much lessened. 

 It is, of course, the landlord who must be consulted 



