CHAPTER IX 



THE POMPONIUS EGO DAY continued 



SOUTH GROVE, as our readers may remem- 

 ber, was the scene of Mr. Jorrocks's former 

 bag-fox exploit, and was well adapted for 

 such experiments. It was a long wood of stately 

 oaks, running parallel with the Appledove Road, 

 for about a mile, the wood widening into some- 

 thing like twelve acres towards the middle. The 

 other side was bounded by Bumpmead Heath, 

 and the country around was of that undulating 

 nature, that requires a man to ride close with 

 hounds, or run a chance of losing them. From 

 South Grove to Doitwich, the nearest cover, was 

 four miles, as the crow flies, but a judicious 

 winding of certain irregularities of surface would 

 not only lengthen it into five or six miles, but 

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