THE INFLUENZA SCOURGE 65 



pression forced upon me were in any degree correct, 

 horses and riders alike were deplorably out of condition. 

 At the covertside they evinced it only by a nearly general 

 sleekness of appearance, as illustrated by a leaning towards 

 rotundity or ruddiness as the case might be. When strong 

 exercise began, both panted lustily, and grew heated and 

 moist on wholly inadequate provocation. By Monday 

 both will probably be all the better for it. To-morrow 

 they will be stiff, perhaps sleepy, and in occasional 

 instances even sore and abrased. Mem. — Saddles ought 

 now again to be carefully looked to : for sore backs are 

 quite a spring product, and uneven stuffing is as galling to 

 a horse's back as a wrinkled stocking (let us say) to the 

 human cuticle. Personally, I am as glad when the re- 

 commencement of hunting takes place on a Saturday as I 

 used to be thankful when the 12th of August fell upon 

 that day. Last week we were taken rather unawares. 

 Many were hybernating in town ; and early-morning 

 and late-evening trains brought them hurrying down — to 

 find the country still comparatively grim-looking, but the 

 thermometer working hard towards mending matters. 



The rides of Badby Wood were as piecrust, that is to 

 say, the few of them that are not almost macadamed for 

 our benefit. At first they bore the Pytchley field (quite 

 a little one to-day, please) clattering and slipping on the 

 surface, while the lady pack drove cheerily up and down 

 and about the covert. By degrees the crust broke, and 

 horses then churned the frost-rotted ground into bog- 

 holes. Perseverance at last achieved the task of driving 

 a fox forth, and hounds then led us over an Alpine dis- 

 trict — chiefly tilled, as if it had slipped all by mistake into 

 the Grass Countries — past the back of Everdon to the 

 Grafton coverts beyond. A little dip in the ground put 

 the Everdon brook across our path — at least to such of 

 us as would admit the necessity — and a score or so of 

 horses reported progress by slipping in very varied fashion 

 from one hard greasy bank to the other. The jump is 

 scarcely a jump at any time. To-day it was hardly a fair 

 question to put to them, with gate and shallow ford 

 adjacent. This fox was lost at Everdon Stubbs. Next 



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