d huntsman caught Old Larry and, as it was
late in the afternoon and the hounds were well out of sight, we turned
our horses' heads towards home. The hour for dinner came. It was dark. It
was raining, but neither my friend nor Mick Molloy had turned up. We
dined heartily and well, and it was not till about ten o'clock, when the
port wine was going round merrily, that my brother officer came in. Yes,
he was wet and weary. He carried a saddle and a bridle in his arms,
but--alas! also there was no Mick Molloy. In the second run he had come
across one of these sunken ditches. Mick Molloy rushed it, fell into it,
and the weight of his rider had broken his back. Such was the end of good
old Mick.

The last meet of the Limerick Hounds which was held that season gave the
opportunity to some bright members of the club to play off a practical
joke on the members of the Hunt. If the weather was suitable after the
close of the season, and the Master so wished, a few extra meets were
arranged for by him. No regular notice was given for such meets; the
secretary of the Hunt generally informed the members by post-card that a
meet would be held at such a place next day. This particular year April
Fools' Day was on a Tuesday. The members duly received a post-card on the
Monday that an extra meet of the hounds would take place at a place
called Tervoe, about five miles from Limerick, on the Wednesday. Later on
in the afternoon on the same day members received telegrams to say that
the meet would take place on the Tuesday instead of Wednesday. On Tuesday
morning members turned up and wound their ways towards Tervoe. At the
barracks we had to rearrange our plans as to who could get away for this,
perhaps the last meet of the year. It was finally settled, and those of
us who could be spared rode off.

On the way to Tervoe we overtook a couple of other members, and after
riding a little distance they said, "You fellows had better go back. This
is a sell. Don't you know it's April Fools' Day? Go back." Well, we
believed them and turned back, for they told us they were only going out
to see the fun at Tervoe.

We were going back when we met some other members going out, so we told
them, "Don't you go. This is all a sell. Don't you know it's April Fools'
Day?" They looked at us in surprise and said, "Well! How can you fellows
have been made fools of like this? Those two chaps are just making April
fools of you. Come along, let's hurry on or w