82 His Own Petard 



The field had trotted up to Avithhi duly respectful 

 distance of the pack, but there was not even a whimper 

 to show that the most impulsive of hounds suspected the 

 presence of a fox. The cast was a failure, as probably 

 each of the five-and-twenty or thirty men who were out, 

 not excluding Bob Couples, felt certain it would be. 

 After the hopelessness of the quest had been made 

 apparent, Perkinson started off once more. 



' Well, he's lost that fox in consequence of pure pig- 

 headedness, but there's one good thing, we're sure to find 

 in Hawk's Gorse,' Hedworth observed as, somewhat 

 disconsolately, he followed the hounds ; for a straight- 

 necked fox had given them a merry fifteen minutes, and 

 they had naturally supposed that they were in for a 

 good thing, the more agreeable because good things had 

 been sadly scarce of late. 



The Heatherley Hounds had not been having good 

 sport, nor was the prospect improving. Who was to 

 take them had been a problem, for agricultural depression 

 had affected the banking accounts of the few men whom 

 the district would have been glad to see at the head of 

 affairs. Sir Henry Herries, the late master, had in- 

 herited an estate in the Midlands, and had gone to live 

 on his new domains. The Grange, his place, was to let, 

 and what was to become of the hounds had sorely per- 

 plexed sportsmen in the district, when suddenly Mr. 

 James Perkinson, a gentleman who was understood to 

 have made a fortune in the Potteries, came to the 

 Grange, and took the hounds over also, the kennels 

 being situated on the property. He, it was understood, 

 would carry on the hunt, asking a subscription — a 

 fairly liberal one ; this was promised, and he agreed 

 to make good the balance. In the Potteries, as else- 



