252 THE SPORT OF KINGS 



making inquiries about the well-being of the puppy 

 he walked, for he is a good fellow, and almost 

 always walks a puppy. Very keen is he when the 

 sound of hound and horn proclaim that a fox is on 

 foot, and should he chance to view a fox over a 

 ride, he is in the seventh heaven of delight. A 

 few days in the cub-hunting season, a very few 

 they will be, for his stud is limited, and often has 

 other work to do as well as to carry him to hounds, 

 will fall to his lot, and then he is sure to turn up at 

 the opening meet of the season. On that day he 

 will be in great force. He will have a full and 

 particular account of the recent cub-hunting season 

 to give to all who care to listen to him, for he 

 generally cultivates the acquaintance of huntsman 

 and whipper-in, and if he should chance to be a 

 farmer he frequently exercises the rites of hospi- 

 tality on those worthies. He is a busy man indeed 

 on an opening day, and as there is a good deal 

 of the social element, and not a little of the 

 "holiday hunt" on an opening day, our casual 

 hunting man enjoys himself thoroughly, and if he 

 should chance to see a fox killed after a bit of 

 knocking about in the home wood, it is, for him, 

 a red-letter day indeed. 



But when the fallen leaf and the sodden ground 

 tell of the joys which are in store for the hard- 

 riding son of Diana, when foxes have learnt that 

 useful mathematical lesson that the nearest way 

 between two given points is a straight line, and 

 when it is incumbent upon a man who wishes to 

 see anything of the fun that he should go the 

 nearest way, regardless of the size or stiffness of 

 the obstacles he falls in with, then does the man 

 who hunts a little find that he has other occupa- 



