248 HUNTING IN MANY COUNTRIES. 



experiences, which I have little doubt were similar toi those of 

 othera who attempted to find out what " carrying on " meant. 

 Whem the war was five months old I stayed a few days with a 

 Northern Master, but saw no hunting. It is true I had every 

 intention of haiving a day with a neighbouring pack, and sent 

 horses on to a meet, but my host was at that time bu3ring horses 

 for the Government, and he was that morning notified of cer- 

 tain likely gun horses at a farm which was almost on the way 

 to the meet. We arrived early at this farm, and there met the 

 veterinary surgeon, who^ had to pass or refuse the horses picked 

 out by this buyer. They were duly trotted out, examined by 

 the " vet,," and then we had tio wait for the " cold show " and 

 ha,ve them out again. Four out of five were duly bought and 

 paid for, and then we set out to find hounds and covered 

 many miles in a weary round of the local coverts, finding 

 nothing but an odd lost hound and a boy on a pony, who was as 

 completely lost as the hound. In the following autumn I was 

 again in the North, and went to a meet of the North Durham, 

 of which I had learned by card. I arrived at the village — in 

 ordinary times the most popular meet in the hunt — at the 

 right time, and fooind the whole place deserted, and it was 

 some time before I heard that hounds had gone t>hrough a 

 quarter of an hour before. Not a single horseman or woman 

 was toi be seen, and I rode on to' the end of the village street, 

 and there saw the hounds sheltered behind a bam. The 

 kennel huntsanan and one amateur whip were with them. I 

 asked the K.H. if he expected anyone, but all he knew was 

 that the Master was at the recruiting office, and all the family 

 were away. After waiting nearly half an hour in the hope of 

 someone turning up we went to the nearest covert and found 

 at once, and for fonr solemn, silent (except' for hound tongues) 

 hours the three of us hunted foxes which had not been cub- 

 hunted and never went more than a^ mile or so from the covert 

 they lived in. It was a unique and most depressing per- 

 formance, but I believe my experience was by no means 

 singular, for I know that scores of times hunt servants were at 

 work all day quite by themselves in various countries. 



In the following year I was in the North again for a short 

 time, but found that a field of half a dozen was about the 

 regular thing, except on one occasion with the Tynedale, when 



