WAR TIME AND AFTER. 249 



ladies made so bold a show that the absence of men was hardly 

 noticeable. Of the veterans present there was no on© in 

 scarlet, but it was holiday time, and this aooountied for the 

 presence of most of the girls and all the boys who had turned 

 out. I was at several kennels during the later war period, 

 and in some instances the state of affairs was so remarkable that 

 it is worth recording, if only tO' emphasise the wonderful re- 

 ooveiry which enabled the hunts to get to work again after tlie 

 armistice. In the Western Midlands, for example, I visited 

 the kennels of two packs, where the number of hoimds had 

 been, reduced by half, where nO' young hounds had beien reared 

 for a. couple of seasons, and where there was only one — or pos- 

 sibly two^ — old horses with which to exercise the hounds. More- 

 over, there was no staff worth mentioning, and not a single 

 young man about the place. Indeed, at either kennel an etx- 

 hunt servant who had long retired from active work had been 

 found to take sole charge, and as hei Lad to do all the work 

 of the kennel his life was a busy one. One of the two packs 

 was not attempting to hunt ; the other was out for a few hours 

 occa,sionally, but neither was in a. position to kill foxes, and 

 a majority of thei hounds at either kennel were well up in 

 years. Quite lately I have seen both, these packs again, and 

 the) casual observer would say that the pack was as strong and 

 the whole turn out just as smart as it was in pre-war days. 

 And he would be right. 



Indeed the recovery was most remarkable, though in the 

 season which immediately followed the armistice there was 

 great hound shortage nearly everywhere, and an unusually 

 early end to the season in many countries. As for the sport, 

 or rather thei hunting which took plaice during the war, there 

 are few people beyond the Masters of hounds and the men 

 who were employed who can say much about it. Scores of 

 oflBcers on leave had odd days in every country, and on one 

 occasion I reckoned that twelve of a. field, all told, of twenty 

 were soldiers, but the regular hunting man's hunting was so 

 irreigular that he could hardly form an opinion. One day 

 during the war I met a Master of hounds of long standing, 

 and a man whose opinion on everything connected with hunt- 

 ing is very sound. Naturally I asked him what his pack were 

 doing, and he replied that he knew very little about the matter. 



