54 The Hunting Field With Horse and Hound 



come round de tree, barking like a cur, and de gun dun went 

 off with a streak o' fire. De 'ported dog never knew what hit 

 liim. He were as dead as a do' nail, with a bullet tlirough his 

 head. 



"When de other dogs see dis dey put da tails 'tween dar 

 legs, and hoofed it for home. 



" 'Give my compliments to Col. Thorpe,' say de Kunnel, 

 'and tell liim he has de best pack of hounds in North Carolina,' 

 and we lef dat possum up de tree, and all start for 

 home." 



"Well, well, well," said the Colonel, letting himself down 

 into the seat of the big arm-chair, in a meditative mood. 

 "Well, well, well! Has it come at last?" Then turning to the 

 writer, almost with tears in his eyes, he said, "For nearly one 

 hundred years the Sacket family has been claiming the supe- 

 riority of their hounds. It has caused no end of hard feeling, 

 which on several occasions set ujj factions in tliis county, that 

 were carried to the church and even to the state politics. Well ! 

 well! well! It has come at last," and again the Colonel gave 

 liimself to silent meditation. Jim, likewise, looked on most 

 seriously. It seemed as if the great rejoicing had turned to 

 mourning. But it hadn't. It was but a still deeper rejoicing 

 on Colonel Thorpe's part. His sadness was sympathetic sad- 

 ness for the final overthrow of the Sacket hounds, his ancient 

 enemy. What if it had been the other way about? He felt 

 the chagrin and mortification of this defeat for his neighbour, 

 as if it had been his own brother. Still, if it had not happened, 

 he and his neighbour would have gone on with the same family 

 strife to the end of their days, transmitting to their descen- 

 dants the same untiring efforts, each to out-do the other. If 

 Colonel Sacket could have come in then, he would have received 

 such a greeting as a Sacket never experienced in crossing the 

 Thorpe homestead before. 



The next day as we were all in the back yard inspecting the 



