330 THE BEST OE THE FUN 



they raced into the wind for Staverton village. Was it the 

 squall in your teeth, or was it lack of racing condition, 

 that caused that sob, and bade you involuntarily — as a 

 choice between Mr. E. Miller's high timber and Mr. C. 

 Mills' dense thorns — go for the bullfinch, galloping the 

 next field with a hot hat flying in the breeze and an ob- 

 stinate stirrup that refused to be caught — the two properties 

 recovered only after landing over the next smooth stake- 

 and-bound ? 



As in early November, our fox refused to breast the 

 winning field, and bore off to the right. Skirting the 

 slope, hounds picked up a threefold contingent ; and at 

 the Daventry and Shuckburgh road some twenty people 

 issued, most by a gate to the right, one by a flight of 

 timber on the left, one by a flight of fancy at the same 

 spot, which eventuated, he tells me, in a run after his 

 horse nearly to Daventry. Twenty minutes to this point, 

 eight minutes on (towards Catesby), and then a check. 

 You ask me who was there ; I can't tell you. They 

 looked so much alike when I came up, in their water- 

 proofs and their heat and their joy, that I dare not 

 attempt to cipher and catalogue them. But I believe 

 that I am right in saying that the first lady up was Miss 

 Lowndes, and others were Mrs. Locke-King, Miss Fenwick, 

 Miss Czarnikov, and Miss May Byass ; while of men I 

 venture at all events to include (besides those mentioned 

 and the two whips) Mr. Adamthwaite, Captains Barry, 

 Askwith, Renton, Goulburn, and Faber. 



With a fresh horse and some twenty minutes' more 

 hunting, Goodall worked his fox round to the gardens of 

 Shuckburgh House, the sparkle all off the scent, possibly 

 from the taint of freshly-dressed fields, and left him under 

 ground. 



CHAPTER L 



TRIFLES 



With the Bicester from Red Hill Wood three foxes went 

 away at once in three different directions (on February 



