90 His Own Petard 



men who rode, as they ahnost surely would ride, the 

 mner line, would get into the thick of it. Bob was to 

 show the way as far as it was safe ; Perkinson, well away 

 to the right, as he would take care to be, would be in 

 good going. Perkinson was delighted. How lucky Bob 

 had used that phrase about the gentlemen getting into 

 a mess ! Otherwise the notion would not have occurred to 

 him ; and now here was a way of paying off the grudge 

 he bore. 



For the Tuesday of the following week the meet at 

 the Cross Eoads, new to all but a very few members of 

 the hunt, was announced. Old Lopdell was doubtless 

 well acquainted with the lay of the land, for his farm 

 was not far from the boggy part of the country ; but if 

 hounds got well away — and they would get well away on 

 this occasion — it was in the highest degree unlikely that 

 he would be near enough to the head of affairs to warn 

 men mounted on such cattle as Hedworth and Charlton 

 rode. Where an ugly fence had to be crossed, and 

 Perkinson intended that his field should jump, the line 

 was to run conveniently near a gate, for he himself did 

 not like fences ; then, after crossing a meadow which 

 was to be carefully chosen for soundness, so as to get up 

 a pace, the held was to be taken straight into the bog ; 

 and then the laughter was to come in. 



Suppose Hedworth did not turn up on the eventful 

 morning ? That he or Charlton would fail to do so was 

 Perkinson's chief apprehension, for it was mainly against 

 the friends that his plot was directed, and they both 

 lived a longish way from the Cross Eoads. The thing 

 had caused a good deal of trouble in process of arrange- 

 ment, and it would have been a regular missfire had 

 these two especially been out of it. Perkinson's satis- 



