A MINCING LANE M. F. H. 71 



and walked away; and of course Toppler gave 

 Mm one to take with him and help to remind 

 him that he ought to like it. Another hound 

 just pulled a hit off and dropped it, and a few 

 of them had a wrangle over a leg for the sake 

 of the row. Just then an old hare — I'm nearly 

 certain it was the heast we'd been hunting for the 

 last half-hour — -jumped up, and, if you'll believe 

 me, half the pack set off in hot pursuit, with 

 the others following the lead. Old Poult and 

 Toppler — who was getting very drunk ; he carries 

 a couple of medicine bottles full of rum about 

 with him — will have to eat their fox between 

 them, if they want it eaten," 



"Poult can't have much fun, I should think. 

 Why does he keep hounds ? " I inquire. 



"It is sim^^le enough," Stuart answers. 

 " Poult would be nobody in the neighbourhood, 

 but the master of Squire Poult's hounds is to 

 some extent a personage. It only shows how the 

 brutes will deteriorate, for there's hardly a better 

 bred pack in ,the country. However, I only 

 hope Hyde will marry Lucy Poult, who's a 

 deuced nice little girl, and try to teach his 

 father-in-law what a pack of hounds are sup- 

 posed to do. Yes ; and if Toppler drinks himself 

 to death during the wedding festivities, it will 

 be an excellent thing for the hunt." 



