226 THE SPORT OF KINGS 



was divided into two parts, one of the narrow 

 enclosures separating them. Away we all went for 

 about a mile, and then the right hand division, in 

 which there was the Master and huntsman, pulled 

 up. Then also did the left hand division pull up, 

 for by this time some of us had begun to think 

 all was not quite right. And when we came to 

 compare notes it seemed that each thought that 

 the other had hounds. And what had happened 

 was this : After they had run about half a mile 

 back towards the covert, they had turned sharply 

 at right angles behind one of the big and thick 

 hedges, and the narrow enclosures enabled them to 

 get out of sight before the leading horsemen got 

 into the field where they turned. These men, 

 seeing those on their left still riding forward, 

 naturally thought they had hounds with them, and 

 so for another half-mile they rode on before the 

 mistake was discovered. And then for twenty 

 minutes we galloped and jumped before we got to 

 hounds, and, of course, when we did get to them 

 the fun was over. 



One very frequent cause of men being thrown 

 out and losing start in a big run is that they are 

 not minding the business of the hour. Hounds 

 are perhaps drawing a good-sized wood — say of 

 some twenty or thirty acres. How are most of 

 the field occupied ? They are talking of the last 

 ball or dinner party, or the entries for the spring 

 handicaps, or the foreign policy of the Govern- 

 ment, and their attention is riveted on anything 

 but fox-hunting. Then a good fox breaks in a 

 hurry — as good foxes generally do. The hunts- 

 man's horn is not heard, because it is not being 

 listened for, and the consequence is a bad start, 



