44 WARWICK WOODIJ^ 7 DS. 



get that he has killed away, or they would have stopped on 

 him ! 



Hush ! the leaves rustle here beside me, with a quick patter 

 the twigs crackle it is he ! Move not ! not for your life, Peacock ! 

 There ! he has broken cover fairly ! Now he is half across the 

 field ! he stops to listen ! Ah ! he will head again. No ! no ! 

 that crash, when they came upon the warm blood, has decided 

 him away he goes, with his brush high, and its white tag bran- 

 dished in the sunshine now I may halloa him away. 



u Whoop ! gone awa-ay ! whoop ! v 



I was answered on the instant by Harry's quick 



" Hark holloa ! get awa-ay ! to him hark ! to him hark ! hark 

 holloa !" 



Most glorious Artemis, what heaven-stirring music ! And yet 

 there are but poor six couple ; the scent must be as hot as fine, 

 for every hound seems to have twenty tongues, and every leaf 

 an hundred echoes ! How the boughs crash again ! Lo ! they 

 are here ! Bonny Belle leading head and stern up, with a quick 

 panting yelp ! Blossom, and Dangerous, and Dauntless scarcely 

 a length behind her, striving together, neck and neck ; and, by 

 St. Hubert, it must be a scent of twenty thousand, for here 

 these heavy Southrons are scarcely two rods behind them. 



But fidget not, good Peacock ! fret not, most excellent Pytha- 

 goras ! one moment more, and I am not the boy to baulk you. 

 And here comes Harry on the gray ; by George ! he makes the 

 brushwood crackle ! Now for a nasty leap out of the tangled 

 swamp ! a high six-barred fence of rough trees, leaning toward 

 him, and up hill ! surely he will not try it ! 



Will he not though ? 



See ! his rein is tight yet easy ! his seat, how beautiful, how 

 firm, yet how relaxed and graceful ! Well done, indeed ! He 

 slacks his rein one instant as the gray rises ! the rugged rails 

 are cleared, and the firm pull supports him ! but Harry moves 

 not in the saddle no ! not one hair's breadth ! A five foot fence 

 to him is nothing ! You shall not see the slightest variation 

 between his attitude in that strong effort, and in the easy gallop. 

 If Tom Draw saw him now, he could have some excuse for call- 

 ing him " half horse" and he does see him ! hark to that 

 most unearthly knell ! like unto nothing, either heavenly or hu- 

 man ! He waves his hat and hurries back as fast as he is able 

 to the horses, well knowing that for pedestrians at least, the 

 morning's sport is ended. 



