days when the chase was an affair of state. 

 Then, by special enactment, dogs of the vil- 

 leinage, for the most part low-bred mongrels, 

 were required to be curtailed of the feather, 

 in order that they might be readily cogniza- 

 ble by huntsmen and whippers-in, who could 

 thus separate them, in chase, from My Lord's 

 racing, fine -bred, true -nosed deer-hounds, 

 whom the plebeians might confuse and draw 

 to a false scent. From cur-tail dog to cur- 

 dog, or simply cur, the descent is easy, even 

 without aid from Time's transforming whirl- 

 igig- 



Though his name is so foreshortened, his 

 race abounds. Folk hereabout are evident- 

 ly at one with the canny Scot, who " aye 

 thocht a mon leukit sae naked wi'out a bit 

 doggie at his heels." Every huntsman, even 

 the smallest, holds three to four eager creat- 

 ures, betwixt whose plunging and straining 

 towards all quarters many falls are his por- 

 tion. 



When the snow began Mistress Molly 

 perhaps thought it a small affair. She 

 crouched comfortably in some tuft of dry 

 grass to doze it away. By and by, as it 

 grew deeper, she stirred a little, back and 

 forth, scooping by pressure of her soft body 

 a chamber, barely big enough for it, in the 



