218 THE IMAGE OF WAE 



endeavours could I ever induce one hound to own 

 the line again. 



The next two evenings I went out I experienced 

 a total w^ant of scent, so I determined to try a 

 morning. Accordingly the van was sent on to a 

 village some four miles off, where there was a very 

 large acreage of cotton. Hounds soon found, but it 

 was impossible for a long time to get the jack to 

 face the open. At last he did, and ran into a net- 

 work of sandy nullahs, where scent failed altogether. 

 After thirty-five minutes' work this was rather hard 

 on hounds. I crossed the road and found again at 

 five minutes before eight. Although, or perhaps 

 because, the sun had got stronger, scent had im- 

 proved. Hounds ran from scent to' view and rolled 

 him over at half-past eight. I may here remark 

 that I had often afterwards cause to notice that 

 scent in India generally improves as the sun gets 

 hotter, for which reason I always found that my best 

 runs took place in the afternoon, after the ground 

 had been exposed to the scorching rays. 



The 26th of October was a bitter cold morning. 

 I was in the saddle before daylight, and had to wait 

 some time till I could see to draw. Consequently 

 I experienced the extraordinary sensation (for India) 

 of feeling my hands quite numb with cold, though I 

 had gloves on. Scent was bad, and though they 

 found twice we had no run. This day was only 

 noteworthy as being that on which I killed my only 

 fox. I happened to see the fox — a desert one — 

 crossing the plain a couple of hundred yards away, 

 and galloped on till hounds got a view. They never 

 lost sight of him, and in some ten minutes killed 

 him. 



