CHAPTEE X. 



Returns to England, and resumes the Mastership of the 

 Hambledon hounds — Purchases the Fir Hill -estate, Drox- 

 ford— His " Good-bye Day." 



OjS" his return to England, Mr. Smith was 

 much urged by the gentlemen of the Hamble- 

 don Hunt to lake the Mastership again. It 

 was not his wish to undertake so troublesome 

 a task ; but as no one else seemed likely to do 

 itj he agreed to act for a single year, on the 

 express condition that they would provide a 

 proper successor in that time. He then rented 

 Eir Hill, Droxford, where he erected a tem- 

 porary kennel, and Mr. Long gave him two 

 lodging-houses for the hounds. These houses 

 formed a great inducement to him, and he 

 would not have undertaken the Mastership 

 without them; but when the time came for 

 removing them, they seemed likely to be more 

 plague than profit. It appeared quite impos- 



