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once crossed my mind ; this, however, was not to be, 

 although we kept close at him for some time yet to come. 

 He having crossed the canal by the swing bridge, I was 

 put off the line for a few valuable moments by two 

 labouring men, who said they were quite sure he had 

 not gone over ; and, as another instance of how little 

 notice should be taken of such people, the fox had 

 crossed under their very feet, and they had not seen 

 him. Immediately after this I got another view at him, 

 crossing a stubble field, and luck was again against me, 

 for Mr. Coupland, who would no doubt have been a 

 great help, got a very nasty fall over a stile, and was 

 prevented coming on for some little time. At the 

 next road hounds again checked, the fox having ran 

 down it for some distance, and some traffic being 

 between him and the hounds, made it more difficult for 

 them to own the line. Three or four fields further on, 

 and the canal was again reached, at a very sharp turn 

 which there is in it. Up to this the fox had ran, but, 

 instead of swimming over, had turned short to the left 

 along the towing path, on which he kept for perhaps a 

 half-mile. Directly after leaving this, the Smite crossed 

 our line, and, in addition to the brook itself, there was 

 a fence on the landing side, which made it almost im- 

 possible to jump at that end of the day. Having a quick 

 eye, Mr. A. Martin soon saw a place where the rail on 

 the far bank could be broken, and the brook being 

 narrowish just here, we landed over safely, and pounded 

 along after hounds, who were running again very 

 smartly now in the direction of Kaye Wood, and eventu- 

 ally passed it close by the keeper's house. Keeping a 

 straight course we were not long in reaching Colston 

 Bassett, where the fox had been seen two minutes 



