^ <&QQti Saun, aiiK a <^ooti dTini^i). i77 



Of course Dick was one of us — for where his 

 hounds are no less surely is he — but as a splash 

 causes us to cast a glance back, it is evident that his 

 first whip will not directly be in a position to assist 

 him, should he need it ; but we must leave him to 

 get out as he may, and can rest fully assured that 

 many will prefer stopping to render him assistance 

 than to risking a similar fate themselves. What a 

 halt that disaster has caused — horses refusing, and 

 riders skirting off in all directions ; indeed, but one 

 other, as far as we can see ere we sink the hill 

 beyond, gets clean over it, and he far too hopelessly 

 in rear to catch us again if the pace but continues 

 as at present. 



We had come " a regular buster " for some four 

 miles or so as the crow flies, but a trifle more as 

 hounds ran, ere Ferndale, a woodland of some 

 three hundred acres, loomed in sight, and on reach- 

 ing its outskirts the too-eager pack flashed over its 

 yielding boundary fence into that vulpine stronghold 

 itself, as if satisfied that no hard-pressed fox would 

 discard the shelter afforded by such a jungle. 



It is, however, otherwise to-day, and Dick, having 

 given hounds a few seconds time, in which their 

 silence was to him sufficient acknowledgment of 

 their mistake, recalls them, with one sharp note 

 on his horn, to the boggy headland they had so 



M 



