348 GUN, RIFLE, AND HOUND. 



descended the steep hill into the valley of the 

 Monnow. At Cwmcarvan he had had enough of 

 this, and retraced his steps to Fedwvawr Wood, where 

 they checked. At this time we had been running an 

 hour and three-quarters at a pace which made it a 

 matter of wonder to me, fresh as I was from a crack 

 country, how any fox could stand up before hounds so 

 long. The check was a long one, but our fox was not 

 resting, for hitting off the line we dragged slowly after 

 him to Penallt Common again, and in a ring back to 

 his favourite wood of Fedwvawr. This time he had 

 taken a rest, for he was fresh found and, remember, 

 viewed away, a dirty, draggled (I had almost said 

 beaten), and undeniably hunted fox. 



Scent was better now than ever, and hounds fairly 

 flew past Trelleck and across the Peat Bog to the Park- 

 hurst Rocks. 



Thence he ran along the ridge overlooking the 

 valley through several coverts, of which I will not 

 weary the reader with a string of names, and finally, 

 forty-five minutes from the fresh find, pointed his mask 

 again for the valley, and ran right across it to 

 Dingestow Church. The idea of descending this 

 formidable hill choked off many of the field, though 

 no one could have expected the fox to ascend it again. 

 Reascend it, however, he did to Trelleck, and then 

 ran towards the Wye Valley. When he reached its 

 upper edge at Cleidan, he once more turned back to 

 the Parkhurst Rocks, and ran his old line by Wool- 

 pitch to Fedwvawr. 



Towards the end of this journey the combination 



