288 THE BEST OF THE FUN 



decided the judges at Peterborough — Forager is, I may 

 add, rapidly developing into an excellent foxhound, while 

 the way he brought a piece of meat out of covert, and 

 through the pack, yesterday gave ample evidence that he 

 knows already for what purpose he is taken out hunting. 

 Be sure you do not fail on your first appearance at the 

 covertside, and when exchanging greetings with the hunts- 

 man, to ask at once " Which is Forager ? " (By the way, 

 don't ask on a Wednesday, when the lady pack is doing 

 duty on the Rugby side.) I heard the question asked 

 yesterday : and the good man with the horn could almost 

 be heard to purr. But as the questioner was one of our 

 most prominent squadron-leaders — and is, moreover, on 

 the most cordial terms with the huntsman — the latter could 

 not bring himself to forego the opportunity. " Well, I'll 

 tell you, and show you a little mark he's got — so as you 

 wofCt ride over him. Forager ! Forager ! ! That's him with 

 a white spot on his right hip. Now you know him ? " 

 And, true enough, the mark is unmistakable— a round spot 

 as big as a half-crown. If ever you see that spot staring 

 you in the face when a hound is hindering you at a fence, 

 stop for your life or pull round to perdition — no matter 

 how many greedy competitors may already be jumping 

 right or left of you ! Verbum sap. 



Now, if I may venture liberty of incident or example, 

 it is surely in the case of an old playmate. Well, Play- 

 mate, while possessing very many essential qualifications 

 towards riding over a country, e.g. nerve, keenness, and 

 capable horse-flesh, has been to a minor extent handicapped 

 with shortness of vision. He can see a fence, and, having 

 seen it, is on most occasions, I notice, " mad to be at it." 

 The new barbarous fence is to him a more invisible, and 

 thus more dangerous, enemy than to most of us. But he 

 can see three plain strands bisecting a field, if only by 

 means of the timber posts twenty feet apart. To-day, being 

 on the ride — his first ride of the year, and thus accentuated 

 tenfold — he was pulled up short, while leading his field. 

 Three strands and many posts stood across the pasture and 

 his path, and he had nothing for it but to rein up. But 

 it so happened that exactly where he halted meant the 



