160 HUNTING IN THE MIDLANDS 



from Chippington itself. There was the chief 

 medical man of the place, mounted on a very clever 

 horse, the head of the Chippington bank, and 

 some half-dozen strangers. As we drew near to 

 " the Bushes " we saw that there had already con- 

 gregated a very considerable crowd. There were 

 young ladies, some who had come just to see them 

 throw off, and others with an expression in their 

 faces, and a cut about their habits, which looked 

 like business, and which plainly indicated that they 

 intended, if possible, to be in at the death. There 

 were two or three clergymen who had come from 

 adjoining parishes, and one or two country squires. 

 There were some three or four Oxford undergradu- 

 ates — Chippington is within a very convenient 

 distance of the city of academic towers — who were 

 " staying up " at their respective colleges for the 

 purpose of reading during a portion of the vaca- 

 tion, and who found it necessary to vary the 

 monotony of intense intellectual application by 

 an occasional gallop with the Chippington or 

 Bicester pack. Then, of course, there was the 

 usual contingent of country doctors : usual, I say, 

 for the medical profession gravitates naturally to- 

 wards equestrianism. If a country doctor rides at 

 all, you may be sure he rides well, and is well 

 mounted, moreover. There was also a very bois- 



