160 NOTES BY THE WAY. 



that hi , scent was so rank and heavy that it settled 

 in the hollows and clung tenaciously to the bushes 

 and crevices in the fence. I thought I ought to have 

 caught a remnant of it as I passed that way some 

 minutes later, but I did not. But I suppose itr was 

 not that the light-footed fox so impressed himself 

 upon the ground he ran over, but that the sense of 

 the hound was so keen. To her sensitive nose these 

 tracks steamed like hot cakes, and they would not 

 have cooled off so as to be undistinguishable for sev- 

 eral hours. For the time being she had but one 

 sense : her whole soul was concentrated in her nose. 



It is amusing when the hunter starts out of a win- 

 ter morning to see his hound probe the old tracks to 

 determine how recent they are. He sinks his nose 

 down deep in the snow so as to exclude the air from 

 above, then draws a long full breath, giving some- 

 times an audible snort. If there remains the least 

 effluvium of the fox the hound will detect it. If it 

 be very slight it only sets his tail wagging ; if it be 

 strong it unloosens his tongue. 



Such things remind one of the waste, the friction 

 that is going on all about us, even when the wheels 

 of life run the most smoothly. A fox cannot trip 

 along the top of a stone wall so lightly but that he 

 will leave enough of himself to betray his course to 

 Jie hound for hours afterward. When the boys play 

 " hare and hounds " the hare scatters bits of paper to 

 give a clew to the pursuers, but he scatters himself 

 much more freely if only our sight and scent were 



