HORSEMANSHIP 125 



only hj dint of putting nothing in the offertory 

 bag on Sunday for nearly a year that he eventu- 

 ally came to feel that he had made up the 

 financial loss which Providence had thus so 

 unfairly imposed upon him. 



5. 



Success in the hunting-field is not to be 

 achieved without long and often bitter experi- 

 ence. But there are a few elementary rules 

 with which the humblest sportsman should be 

 acquainted if he wishes to follow the hounds 

 without disaster to himself or shame to his 

 friends. 



In any smart hunting countr}^, in the shires 

 or in the provinces, there a.re three unpardonable 

 sins which it is always open to the t^^ro to 

 commit: he may head the fox, he may jump 

 on the hounds, he may be improperly dressed. 



By making a point of following some com- 

 petent leader you will avoid heading the fox; 

 but you should not dog your pilot's heels too 

 closely, or you may jump upon him when he 

 falls at a fence, and thus incur his very natural 

 indignation. 



When I first began to hunt, I used to attach 

 myself to Colonel Spongewell, a well-known 

 thruster whose memory still lives in the hearts 



