100 LADIES ON HORSEBACK. 



they stand tantalizingly at the edge of the 

 chasm in which so many are hopelessly 

 struggling, whilst their audacious cries of 

 " What '11 you give me, sir ? " '* Pull you out 

 for a sovereign, captain ! " are heard and 

 laughed at by the fortunate ones who are safe 

 upon the other side. 



Your pilot has been a wise man. He 

 selected his starting-point at the sound of the 

 very first opening out, and when the general 

 scrimmage took place he had his line chosen,, 

 and so has led you wide of the ruck, yet in 

 the wake of the hounds. 



And here suffer me to advise you, if you 

 should ever chance to be left without a leader, 

 do not fall into the mistake of following the 

 others, for my experience of hunting is that 

 nine-tenths of those out do not know where 

 they are going, nor where fox or hounds have 

 gone before them. Cut out a line for yourself, 

 and follow the pack. A pilot is, of course, a 

 great acquisition, if he be a good one, but 

 throughout some of my best runs I have 

 performed the office for myself, and have 

 succeeded in being in at the death. But 



