348 Cross Country with Horse and Hound 



"Arriving at covert, I lost sight of my friend ; but seeing 

 the way hounds were running, I drove on. The next thing 

 I saw of him he was about to jump a fence not over three 

 feet high. He was leading the field, to be sure. Rory 

 O'More got both fore feet over, and there he stuck. Forty 

 riders behind were waiting their turn to go through the 

 only gap. 



" ' Have you a lease of the place for a term of years, or 

 only for the day?' asked some one. 



" ' Build a fire under him/ cried another. 



" ' Pour water in his ears/ etc., until finally Rory 

 O'More, having secured his second wind while resting on 

 the fence, answered to my friend's quilting and went away 

 with surprising speed. 



" Later in the afternoon, whom should I see but Bankclerk 

 come walking along toward the road. I waited for him. 

 He was the picture of woe. His hat was knocked in so 

 he looked like a Bowery tough ; his new hunting-breeches 

 were green as grass could make them on one knee, and 

 torn to shreds on the other ; his hunting-coat was a mix- 

 ture of grass- and fallow-stains; and altogether he was the 

 most forlorn-looking object I ever beheld. 



" ' Where is your horse ? What has become of Romeo ? ' 

 I inquired. 



" ' Gone to the devil, I hope/ said Bankclerk. 



" ' And your hunting-crop ? ' I asked. 



" My friend, now that he was reminded of it, just missed 

 it. He looked first at one hand, then at the other ; then 

 he felt on the outside of his pockets. 



" Your hunting-crop/ I said. ' Have you lost it ? ' 



