March Winds 



break fresh ground. There is a familiarity 

 about a fence when one has jumped it half a 

 dozen times in a day which breeds contempt. 

 I don't think I ever was out on a more irritating 

 day, but towards four o'clock the wind began 

 to drop, and by half-past it had dropped alto- 

 gether. Hounds began to do a little better now, 

 and, getting on good terms with a fox, they 

 hunted him rather nicely. Then an unfortunate 

 circumstance happened ; they changed foxes 

 and crossed a river. 



I had mounted a friend of mine, and we were 

 rather undecided as to what we should do; 

 but the river decided it, for it meant a long 

 detour to a bridge, and, as we thought, a very 

 long ride home late in the evening. But for 

 once in a way the unexpected happened in such 

 a way as the wildest of optimists could never 

 have hoped for. 



Hounds ran beautifully on the other side of 

 the river. How well they always seem to be 

 running when one cannot get to them! We 

 walked our horses slowly on the homeward 

 road, and in about ten minutes' time we heard 



I5i 



