172 MELTON AND HOMESPUN 



mounted on a great upstanding half-bred cart-mare had 

 turned up late at covert-side, the Master found himself 

 absolutely alone. He comforted himself, however, with 

 the mistaken idea that hounds were only a very short 

 distance ahead, hunting the same " line " as Tiger, and 

 that a timely check would enable him to get on terms 

 with them. 



But perhaps it would be well to tell the remainder of 

 the story as it was recited by Mr. Rodwell, the belated 

 farmer, to divers members of the hunt a little later in 

 the day : 



" Well, ye see gentlemen, I arrove at covert-side just 

 in time to see the Master blunderin' through a gap with 

 that old blear-eyed rough-coated 'ound, Tiger, huntin' on 

 scent, and givin' tongue as only they Welsh fox'ounds 

 know how. There wasn't a sign of any other livin' soul, 

 but I could hear the rest o' the pack in the distance, and 

 as it seemed to me, a bit left-handed like. Howsoever, 

 never doubtin' that the Master had been hung up in 

 covert, but knew exactly which way hounds were runnin', 

 I stuck as close to him as my old elephant of a mare 



could lay hoofs to ground. Mr. L is a rare good 



pilot for a heavy man like me, seein' as he always rides 

 for a gap or gateway, and never so much as takes a twig 

 or water-furrow even. Every now and again he'd blow 

 a note on his 'orn which sounded for all the world 

 like a boy's penny trumpet, while to 'ear 'im a-cheerin' 

 on old Tiger * Forrard ! forrard ! forrard, Tiger ! ' 

 (' Squeak ! squeak ! squeak ! ') 'twas the queerest 

 performance I ever heard in all my born days. The 

 further we rode the further away became the cry of 

 hounds. This puzzled me a bit, but Tiger still stuck to 



