WOLF AND HOUND 



" The hills like giants at a hunting lay 

 Chin upon hand, to see the game at bay." — Browning. 



You'll take my tale with a little salt, 



But it needs none, nevertheless, 

 I was foil'd completely, fairly at fault, 



Dishearten'd, too, I confess. 

 At the splitter s tent I had seen the track 



Of horse-hoofs fresh on the sward, 

 And though Darby Lynch and Donovan Jack 



(Who could swear through a ten-inch board) 

 Solemnly swore he had not been there, 



I was just as sure that they lied, 

 For to Darby all that is foul was fair, 



And Jack for his life was tried. 



We had run him for seven miles and more 



As hard as our nags could split ; 

 At the start they were all too weary and 

 sore, 



And his was quite fresh and fit. 

 Young Marsden s pqjiy had had enough 



On the plain, where the chase was hot ; 

 We breasted the swell of the Bittern's Bluff, 



And Mark couldn't raise a trot. 



When the sea, like a splendid silver shield, 



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