WARWICK WOODLANDS. 25 



space only for Laving crossed the stream, by the same bridge 

 which we had passed on entering the village, Tom Draw pulled 

 down a set of bars to the left, and strode out manfully into the 

 stubble. 



" Hold up, good lads ! whe-ew whewt !" and away went 

 the setters through the moist stubble, heads up and sterns down, 

 like fox-hounds on a breast-high scent, yet under the most per- 

 fect discipline ; for at the very first note of Harry's whistle, 

 even when racing at the top of their pace, they would turn 

 simultaneously, alter their course, cross each other at right an- 

 gles, and quarter the whole field, leaving no foot of ground un- 

 beaten. 



No game, however, in this instance, rewarded their exertions ; 

 and on we went across a meadow, and two other stubbles, with 

 the like result. But now we crossed a gentle hill, and, at its 

 base, came on a level tract, containing at the most ten acres of 

 marsh land, overgrown with high coarse grass and flags. Be- 

 yond this, on the right, was a steep rocky hillock, covered with 

 tall and thrifty timber of some thirty years* growth, but wholly 

 free from underwood. Along the left-hand fence ran a thick 

 belt of underwood, sumach and birch, with a few young oak 

 trees interspersed ; but in the middle of the swampy level, cov- 

 ering at most some five or six acres, was a dense circular thicket 

 composed of every sort of thorny bush and shrub, matted with 

 cat-briers and wild vines, and overshadowed by a clump of tall 

 and leafy ashes, which had not as yet lost one atom of their fo- 

 liage, although the underwood beneath them was quite sere and 

 leafless. 



" Now then," cried Harry, " this is the * Squire's swamp-hole !' 

 Now for a dozen cock ! hey, Tom ? Here, couple up the setters, 

 Tim ; and let the spaniels loose. Now Flash ! now Dan ! down 

 charge, you little villains !" and the well broke brutes dropped 

 on the instant. " How must we beat this cursed hole 3" 



" You must go through the very thick of it, congarn you !" 

 exclaimed Tom ; " at your old work already, hey ? trying to 

 shirk at first !" 



" Don't swear so ! you old reprobate ! I know my place, de- 

 pend on it," cried Archer ; " but what to do with the rest of 

 you ! there's the rub !" 



" Not a bit of it," cried Tom " here, Yorkshire Ducklegs 

 here, what's your name get away you with those big dogs 

 atwixt the swamp hole, and the brush there by the fence, and 



