132 Cross Country with Horse and Hound 



liberty may be taken. You had better keep to the safe 

 side, and always be well within the limits of what the Mas- 

 ter, by his example, may prescribe. 



The hunting-coat should have elastics in the sleeves to 

 shut out the wind. Wear a woollen shirt and a stock tie ; 

 the wool absorbs perspiration and prevents discomfort. 



Pink is seldom worn in America, except at hunt balls. 



As no well-regulated family is quite complete without 

 a black sheep, so no hunt club is quite complete without a 

 swell; and to write a book on hunting and not include 

 this interesting specimen would be a considerable omission. 

 Here he comes now, fresh from his valet, who is likewise 

 fresh from the tailor. You feel like betting ten to one the 

 clothes he wears are not paid for ; but no matter : he had to 

 do it. In fact, it was the sight of the latest hunting fash- 

 ion-plate that decided him to take to hunting. His appear- 

 ance gives a deal of harmless amusement to the other 

 members. He has choked himself with a stock, and wears 

 a corset, or looks as if he did, in his wasp-waisted hunting- 

 coat. He wears number seven patent-leather boots on a 

 number eight foot. What an unhappy, uncomfortable 

 person he looks ! How can he be otherwise with boots 

 too small, coat too snug, stock too tight, and his horse a 

 long-legged, light-waisted, three-cornered animal of the 

 weedy thoroughbred order? Altogether he resembles a 

 gaudy rider in the show-ring. He is, indeed, out to show 

 off. After a good pull or two of jumping-powder from a 

 gold-mounted flask, he is quite fit to make a spectacle 

 of himself. He generally gets a damning from the 

 Master, either mentally or orally, for riding too near 



