212 A DAY WITH THE DRAG 



portals. About 2.30 when we are half way through 

 that cigar in the ante-room, which alone '' saves 

 one's life " after such a luncheon, a crack of the 

 whip, and a " gently there, Waterloo ! " brings us 

 quickly to the window overlooking the parade 

 ground, where hounds have just arrived in charge 

 of the Master and two Whips. We hurry out, after 

 a farewell to such of our kindly hosts as are not 

 intending to accompany us, and find that that big- 

 boned black horse with a hog mane, is intended to 

 carry " Caesar and his fortunes " this afternoon. A 

 right good one he is, too, with a perfect snaffle 

 mouth. He is " not so young as he was," but 

 " sweet are the uses of adversity," and this fact has 

 its advantages, as he will not fret and worry, and 

 pull one's arms off before starting : he has " joined 

 the band," which is also an excellent thing in its way, 

 because the man just ahead of you can hear him 

 coming, and will, you hope, get out of the way at 

 the next fence ! After a short period of moving 

 up and down the parade ground, and exchanging 

 greetings with a few whom you have not had a 

 chance of speaking to before, the word is given, 

 and at that indescribable and, to me, most direful 

 pace, a " hound's jog," off we go along the road 

 over the Common. 



How the bricks and mortar fiend has been work- 



