Hunting in the Golden Days. 15 



" I think they are making for Tilling's Wood," says 

 he ; " let us get on, or we shall lose the best part of it." 



They cross a magnificent park, where sheep are 

 grazing amongst the fine oak trees. The hounds run 

 close up to the mansion, as though blaster Reynard had 

 half a mind to stop and seek the kindly shelter of its 

 portals. But no, away they stream across the grass, 

 jump the park railings into the coach road to an open, 

 breezy common, where they are at fault : but only for a 

 moment, for hark ! a leading hound owns to it. Jack, 

 the huntsman, cheers them on, and they are again away 

 in full cry. Goodbery, in moments like these, feels that 

 he could stand up in his stirrups and shout at the top 

 of his voice, so great is the pleasure and excitement of 

 the chase. But no doubt had he done so, he would be 

 taken for a lunatic, which, under the circumstances, 

 would perhaps have been a reasonable verdict for any 

 onlooker to have arrived at. 



Crossing a few low-water meadows with a nice little 

 brook, that heavy weights can all manage and chat over 

 during their dinner, the sportsmen mount a steep 

 hill. On arriving at the top, they find that the fox 

 has run along the ridge till he has reached a large 

 plantation, where he hopes to baffle his pursuers. The 

 hounds, however, are bent on having his blood, they vow 

 he shall die ; but it is not all over yet, for having got his 

 wind outside this plantation he makes another gallant bid 

 for life by sinking the hill and crossing the country that 

 lies below. Some heavy ploughs here have to be encoun- 

 tered which find out the weak places in the horses. Next 

 comes a nice jump for a clever hunter, a bank with a 

 ditch on the take-off and landing side, where a couple 

 of horsemen bite the dust, but they are soon up again 

 and seem more eager than ever to show it was only a 



