224 THE BEST OF THE FUN 



I fancy that the most difficult, yet successful, effort on the 

 part of the huntsman must have been the keeping of noses 

 down with his own pack, upon his fox's line that encircled 

 almost the kennel walls of the Catthorpe Beagles, the 

 inmates, of course, tongueing loudly, almost madly, the 

 while. 



Then I remember the terrifying spectacle of a runaway 

 horse, bearing upon his back a white bundle, of which, 

 despite the cries that issueci from it, one could not make 

 out whether it was man, woman, or child. It was actually 

 the last-named, a curly-haired urchin of about a dozen 

 summers, who had been dressed up in cockade and 

 mackintosh and dubbed a covert lad. Hat and cockade 

 were gone ; their departure may probably have set the 

 horse off. But the white mackintosh floated in the wind, 

 and the boy lay on one side of the horse, with a leg round 

 the latter's neck, while the whole time he was crying out, 

 by no means from fear, but intent upon checking if pos- 

 sible the steed confided to him. Arrived at the bottom 

 of the pasture down which he was careering, the horse 

 fortunately overshot the gateway, pulled up with a jerk 

 in the corner, and shot the white bundle of humanity in 

 among the hedge thorns. I happened to be nearest to 

 him as the boy jumped to his feet. Absolutely unruffled 

 of countenance, he showed less signs of fear than you 

 may see a dozen times a day upon unwilling faces opposed 

 to an obnoxious fence. To the inquiry "Are you hurt ?" 

 he brought his hand promptly to his forelock, and replied 

 as politely as if he were declining an offer of more pud- 

 ding, " No, sir ; thank you, sir," then proceeded to 

 remount as if nothing had happened. Truly that boy 

 has good mettle and good training in him, and ought to 

 be entered forthwith in a good Hunt Kennel. 



But the best of Wednesday was found in the afternoon 

 scurry from the Hemplovv. By the time we arrived at the 

 foot of these time-honoured hills not a member of the field 

 but wore a cold, blue look, as if in extremis as to temper- 

 ature and circulation. The Laurels were drawn blank, 

 but hope pointed with every show of reason to the 

 sheltered gorse and wooded glade beneath the southern 



