244 THE BEST OF THE FUN 



press him at starting ; had him blown by the time he 

 reached Waterloo (some twenty-five minutes to the gorse, 

 I fancy), then hunted him to death round by Arthing- 

 worth and Braybrooke. The feature of the latter part of 

 the run must have been the performance of Pansy (sister 

 to Paradox, if I can speak without referring to book), who, 

 separated from her comrades by a hill and clump of trees 

 to windward, brought the line on alone for several minutes. 

 Then, again, on Monday last, when the Pytchley, 

 after rambling for some hours on dusty upland, came to 

 Sanders' Gorse, their fox persisted in bringing them back 

 to Harleston Heath — a district of which we had enjoyed 

 a surfeit only three days before. The generally excellent 

 plan of drawing up the whole field at a gate some hun- 

 dreds of yards from the covert chanced on this occasion 

 to favour the fox too well. I do not believe you can ever 

 force a fox exactly in a direction you want him, in oppo- 

 sition to his own wishes, though you may possibly divert 

 his course in some degree at starting. However, this one 

 only too gladly availed himself of facihties ; ignored the 

 green vista that should have tempted him north to 

 Cottesbrook, and, after a career of no great interest, 

 across three miles of country, gained the Heath but not 

 safety. Goodall drove him out, from amid half-a-dozen 

 other foxes, and killed him in Chapel Brampton village. 

 There was no more of interest during the day, unless 

 in wanton idleness you could indulge in a laugh at the 

 quaint position in which our very practical huntsman 

 found himself, when desirous of making a forward cast. 

 Indeed his hounds were already through the gate he was 

 obliged to open, when up dashed a flock of sheep, took 

 him as their shepherd, or as their rallying-point, and 

 from some strange freak of their own proceeded to gyrate 

 round his horse in a solid circle. The performance lasted 

 so long, the flock rotating round him at a pace that should 

 have dazed him, that his field had time to assemble in 

 force ; and soon the air rang with irrepressible laughter. 

 The indignity of the position forced itself, then, so keenly 

 upon the chief actor that, with a hot blush surmounting 

 even a complexion hardened by a quarter-century of 



