170 HUNTING THE GRISLY. 



however, men who have passed their lives as 

 fox-hunters grow to regard the chase and the 

 object of it alike with superstitious venera- 

 tion. They attribute almost mythical charac- 

 ters to the animal. I know some of my good 

 Virginian friends, for instance, who seriously 

 believe that the Virginia red fox is a beast 

 quite unparalleled for speed and endurance 

 no less than for cunning. This is of course a 

 mistake. Compared with a wolf, an antelope, 

 or even a deer, the fox's speed and endurance 

 do not stand very high. A good pack of 

 hounds starting him close would speedily run 

 into him in the open. The reason that the 

 hunts last so long in some cases is because of 

 the nature of the ground which favors the fox 

 at the expense of the dogs, because of his 

 having the advantage in the start, and because 

 of his cunning in turning to account every- 

 thing which will tell in his favor and against 

 his pursuers. In the same way I know plenty 

 of English friends who speak with bated 

 breath of fox-hunting but look down upon rid- 

 ing to drag-hounds. Of course there is a 

 difference in the two sports, and the fun of 

 actually hunting the wild beast in the one 

 case more than compensates for the fact that 

 in the other the riding is apt to be harder and 

 the jumping higher ; but both sports are really 

 artificial, and in their essentials alike. To 

 any man who has hunted big game in a wild 

 country the stress laid on the differences be- 

 tween them seems a little absurd, in fact cock- 

 ney. It is of course nothing against either 



