THE SILVER FOX 185 



on to it, that she was not able to walk. 

 Buiibury was white and silent ; Slaney's eyes 

 were moist, and her voice unsteady. She 

 seemed to Lady Susan extraordinarily kind. 



They made her drink some whisky out of 

 his flask, and she rode on after the hammock 

 down a sheep-track, along a bohireen that 

 was like the bed of a rocky stream, into yet 

 another endless bohireen. Slaney walked 

 beside her; they did not speak, but she 

 knew that Slaney was sorry for her. It 

 made her quite sure that Hugh was dying. 



" Where are the hounds ? " she said 

 suddenly. ''Are they killed too?" 



" Dan's got them," Bunbury answered ; 

 "the fox went down one of the clefts in 

 that field, and Fisherman and Mexico went 

 after him. The others are all right." 



Lady Susan rode on in silence, and 

 Bunbury, leading his horse, walked by 

 Slaney. It was quite unnecessary that he 

 should walk, yet Slaney understood. 



They neared at length a white house 

 with fir-trees round it; there was a back 



