94 FACT AGAINST FICTION. 



(which was dry) during the time that the whippers- 

 in searched every barn, stable, pigsty e, and cow- 

 house for him in vain. The hounds marked him at 

 full speed up to the farm, flung round it with open 

 eyes, and into the yard, and then, with noses 

 down, — they had been nearly viewing him after a 

 very good run, — they afforded the indisputable fact 

 that the fox had gone no further than the huildings 

 in question. No one thought of the great open 

 stone trough under the pump in the middle of the 

 farmyard — it was too evident to evoke suspicion ; 

 so in it lay the beaten fox till huntsmen, hounds, 

 and field retired, when a carter, bringing in his 

 horses, went to the pump-handle, and at its first 

 swing seemed to have pumped out a fox before the 

 Avater came ; for out of the trough jumped the fox, 

 and, with a swing of his brush and a cunningly 

 smiling face, with his ears laid back, away the 

 splendid ^^ villain" flew, to beat his pursuers, 

 perhaps, another day. This happened in Harry 

 Ayris's time, in the Cheltenham country. 



The first thing a huntsman ought to do is to 

 make his hounds as fond of him as, but mucli more 

 trustingly than, any lady's lap-dog. He should 

 have a good store of '' dog-language," and i^lay at 



