SOME SMOKING-ROOM YARNS 169 



" Ah yes, drive them into nets ! I've seen wildfowl 

 taken in that fashion on the shores of the Wash," very 

 naively remarked a " sportsman " from town. 



He was placed on the extreme left of the line of " guns," 

 and well out of range of any one during the day's 

 sport. 



******* 



The pack had just been " thrown into covert," and 

 the noble M.F.H., who hated to be spoken to when his 

 beloved hounds were drawing, was anxiously awaiting 

 for the challenge which proclaims a find. 



Suddenly a pink-coated snob, of a decided Hebraic 

 cast of features, pulled up alongside the silent and 

 solitary horseman, whom the oldest member of the hunt 

 did not dare to approach at such a moment, and in a 

 loud tone of voice opened as follows : 



" Good-morning, my lord ! We haven't had the 

 honour of seeing you hunting in our country yet." 



" No, sir," replied his lordship, " and you ain't likely 

 to either, for I understand that Holy Land is a damned 

 poor fox-huntin' country." 



******* 



" Hold hard, madam ! For Heaven's sake hold hard, 

 or that camel you are riding will be the death of some of 

 my hounds ! " cried the choleric master of one of the 

 south-eastern counties' packs of foxhounds to a lady 

 who was riding rather too close to hounds. 



Without deigning to turn her head, she steered her 

 mount a little to the left and clear of hounds, rode her 

 own line like a centaur, led the van through a long and 

 very fast run, and was the first of the field to see the fox 

 rolled over in the open. 



