338 



MR. SPONGE'S SPORTING TOUR. 



farther ou, but the hounds would not break him up ; and, on 

 examining him, he was found to have been aniseeded ; aud, worst 

 of all, by the mark on his ear to be one that they had turned down 

 themselves the season before, being one of a litter that Sly 

 had stolen from Sir Harry's cover at Seedeygorse — a beautiful 

 instance of retributive justice. 



CHAPTER XL VIII. 



FARMER PEASTRAW S DINE-MATINEE. 



THERE are 



pleasanter sit- 

 uations than 

 being left 

 alone with 

 twenty couple 

 of even the 

 best - man - 

 nered fox- 

 hounds ; far 

 pleasanter sit- 

 uations than 

 being left 

 alone with 

 such a tearing, 

 frantic lot as 

 composed Sir 

 Harry Scat- 

 tercash'spack. 

 Sportsmen are 

 so used (with 

 some hounds 

 at least) to see 

 foxes "in 

 hand" that 

 they never 



think there is any difficulty in getting them there ; and it is only 

 a single-handed combat with the pack that shows them that the 

 hound does not bring the fox up in his mouth like a retriever. A 

 tyro's first tefe-d-tet/with a half-killed fox, with the baying pack 

 circling round, must leave as pleasing a souvenir on the memory as Mr. 

 Gordon Cummin^ would derive from his first interview with a lion. 



MR. BUGLES PREFERS DANCING TO HUNTING. 



