152 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN 



addressed a respectable-looking man who was giving 

 orders to some working-men on the road, in the 

 following words : " Well, master, I am very glad 

 to see you alive, which I did not expect after what 

 I heard." — " Bless you, sir, I am very well ; what 

 could you have heard else ? " — " Why, I heard 

 that your son had shot a fox ; and any man who 

 would shoot a fox would shoot his own father ! " 

 In justice to this gentleman, it is fair to add, that 

 a more liberal or kinder-hearted man does not live, 

 notwithstanding this speech. 



It is often dangerous to leave a fox which is run 

 to ground, without making some arrangement so 

 that no tricks are played ; and the best plan is to 

 give some man half a crown who lives near, and 

 can be depended on, or whatever may be thought 

 necessary, to go at night after dark to the earth, 

 and find out whether any traps are set at the 

 mouth of the earth. The writer has on more 

 occasions than one had several traps brought to 

 him, by the person employed to go there, which 

 were found set at night, by keepers too who pro- 

 fessed to be friendly. It is a good plan, if you run 

 to ground and do not intend to dig, to move 

 off with the hounds before any person on foot 

 knows it. 



Having finished this long chase with running to 

 ground, the writer cries, — Whoop ! 



