116 THE IMAGE OF WAE 



may add are really tumuli) to the big wood of Island 

 Thorns. Scent was too good for him to dwell there, 

 and he went on nearly to the Latchmore Brook, swung 

 round, and came back pretty much on the line we had 

 traversed in the run described above, crossing the 

 Ditchend Brook rather higher up, and keeping 

 straight on across the Fordingbridge Boad into 

 Godshill Enclosure. 



The heather is long on the bank going down into 

 this wood, and there are a lot of self-sown small fir- 

 trees which might hide anything. What they do 

 hide is unknown to me to this day. All I know is, I 

 had a feeling of going into space, followed by the 

 conviction that a pair of incomparable shoulders 

 had saved me from the grief that was overtak- 

 ing my neighbours. One of them not only kissed 

 Mother Earth, but pulled his. bridle right over 

 his horse's head in doing so. Fortunately for him 

 the animal was sensible enough to calmly await the 

 necessary readjustment. 



Our fox was a good bit in front of hounds at 

 this time, but they must have got nearer to him 

 in covert, for, after making a circuit of it, they came 

 away at the top corner on excellent terms with 

 him ; and for the next four miles and a half they 

 ran almost absolutely straight, and fast enough for 

 anybody. 



All we had to do was to sit down and shove our 

 horses along, over Deadman Hill, through the heather 

 and scattered firs to Picket Corner, and past the end 

 .of Studley Wood to Crow's Bottom, which most of us 

 crossed by the high-road bridge, thus gaining a bit on 

 the flying pack. As we came up to the cross roads on 



