were there
for him to trot and gallop on, and fences of wood or stone, free from
barbed wire, were everywhere, for him to jump.

Throughout the week we had looked forward to this day, and even more,
perhaps, to the party which, if we could get back to Washington that
night, was to follow it; wherefore the first thing we did on reaching a
place where information was obtainable was to inquire about facilities
for leaving. Herein my companion had the advantage of me, for there was
nothing to prevent his departing immediately after the races, whereas I
must remain behind for an hour or two, to learn something of fox-hunting
as practised in this region.

By motoring immediately after the races to a neighboring town--Bluemont
if I remember rightly--and there taking an interurban trolley to some
other place, and changing cars, and going without his dinner, my
companion found that he could get to Washington by nine o'clock. My case
was different. Should I be delayed more than two hours I could not get
away at all that night, but must miss the much anticipated party
altogether; and, though my companion seemed to view this possibility
with perfect equanimity, my memories of the charming lady whom we were
to meet at the stage door, after the performance, were too clear to
permit of indifference in me. The trolley my companion meant to catch
was, however, the last one; my only hope, therefore, was to motor a
distance of perhaps a dozen miles, over roads which I was frankly told
were "middling to bad," and try to catch a train at The Plains station.
If I missed this train, I was lost, and must spend a solitary night in
such a room as I might be able to find in a strange village. That
possibility did not appeal to me. I began to wish that there was no such
thing as fox-hunting, or that, there being such a thing, I had chosen to
ignore it.

"Now," said my companion cheerfully, "we'll telegraph her."

At a telegraph office he seized the pencil and wrote the following
message:

_Will call for you to-night after performance._

To this he signed his own name.

"What about me?" I suggested, after glancing over his shoulder at the
message.

"Oh, well," said he, "there's no use in going into all that in a
telegram. It's sufficient to let her know that one of us is coming."

"But I proposed this party."

"Well," he gave in, with an air of pained patience, "what shall I say,
then? Shall I add that you are unavoidably detained