THE ART ITSELF 179 



and frantically waving their arms. Your eye 

 travels quickly in the direction indicated and 

 absorbs every detail. See ! yonder goes the fox, 

 stealing along under that high fence to the right. 

 They have headed him at the village, there is 

 only a field between you now, and this is the time 

 to give the pack a view. Hounds are for the 

 moment at fault where some cart colts have 

 galloped over the line, and your opportunity has 

 come. With a quiet ' Here, come along/ you 

 catch hold of the pack and lift them forward. 

 You meet the fox as he emerges from the shadow 

 of the tall hedge, having cut off a corner. Now 

 for a tally-ho and a scream from your heart. Up 

 go their heads and they get a view. He doubles 

 through the fence, gets a moment's respite, and 

 then makes straight for the brook below like the 

 gallant fox he is. Hounds, though, are not to be 

 denied ; they view him again as he rises dripping 

 from the brook, and race him up the next field. 

 Nothing could stop you at this supreme moment, 

 but twelve feet of water at the end of such a gallop 

 is a high trial for any horse. You get over with 

 a scramble, and are alongside of hounds as they 

 run into their fox in the middle of a grass field. 



