82 THE SPORT OF KINGS 



sequently, not so much crowding and crossing at 

 fences, which are always productive of grief. An 

 experience of my own is worth relating. I was out 

 with a well-known pack, and as they chopped one 

 fox in covert, another brace went away. They 

 were cubs, so hounds settled on to one of them, 

 for no one thought of a cub facing the open so early, 

 and the first time he had been hunted. But the 

 cub was a bold one, and though he ran into an 

 adjacent covert, he did not dwell there, but ran 

 right through, and then a ring over the open which 

 lasted some twenty minutes. The country we 

 crossed was perhaps the trappiest I know. There 

 were very few gates in the line, the fences were 

 thick and strong, and drains, wide and deep, 

 abounded. In some places the drains were on 

 both sides the fence, and they were — as I need 

 scarcely add — full of grass and as blind as they 

 well could be. There were about forty people 

 out, and most of them on the ride. Yet there was 

 not a single fall, men kept well to the hounds, and 

 that though the pace was certainly sharp, especially 

 for the last ten minutes. I am quite sure I shall 

 not see that country ridden over again, when the 

 regular season commences, without there being 

 several falls ? Why is this ? In the first place, I 

 attribute the happy result to the fact that there 

 were no gaps and weak places, than which nothing 

 tends to make a horse more careless. Then again, 

 there was none of that crowding and cutting-in 

 which unfortunately prevails during the regular 

 season, and which is always, more or less, fraught 

 with disaster. And then there was plenty of room. 

 The crowding and cutting-in could be very much 

 lessened, even when large fields prevail, if men 



