106 THE IMAGE OF WAR 



some way up, the water of a brook here ; and there 

 is just a hover before hounds strike the Hne once 

 more, which they do on the near bank of a small 

 tributary stream. Not a furlong on, however, they 

 cross this also, and breast a steep fern-covered bank, 

 some hundreds of feet high, beyond. It is a rocky 

 and awkward place to cross, and there is some crowd- 

 ing and hustling ; so altogether hounds have a bit the 

 best of us when our sobbing steeds reach the brow. 

 There is, fortunately, a nice heathery flat beyond, and 

 we can let our mounts sail along in pursuit of hounds. 

 This flat is divided by a high stone wall, which effectu- 

 ally chokes off the pony division, who, indeed, were a 

 good bit tailed off before by the mere pace. 



The Irish mare I am riding" throws it behind her 

 as a girl does her skipping - rope ; and the blood of 

 *' Tom Steele" throbs in her veins as she skims the 

 ground beyond. But although this changes, beyond 

 a second wall, to some starvation-looking grass, the 

 pace shows no diminution ; and another quarter of 

 an hour of this makes the thing select. The wind, 

 which the fox is quartering, is very strong now on 

 the open moor, and a tall hat is a decided advantage. 

 Presently we come down to one of the nasty crossings 

 which handicap the stranger so in this district. For- 

 tunately a well-mounted native is at hand, and we 

 are soon across with a flounder or two, and away up 

 a sloping "new take" beyond. When the fence of 

 this is behind us, we are out on the Duchy Forest. 

 To our left runs the Teign in a deepish glen, and 

 here hounds suddenly check. We are not sorry to 

 sit still and count noses. There are exactly half a 

 dozen of us. 



Hounds swing right-handed to their own cast ; and 



