THE LIFE OF A FOXHOUND. 19 



correcting tone; " try back, Tom. We shall 

 have stones fall from the clouds presently, 

 if you go on in that way. ' ' 



'* It wouldn't surprise me if they did," 

 replied the whipper-in, as cool as a cucumber. 

 " When so many folk, both gentle an' simple, 

 are building castles in the air, it's nothing 

 but reasonable that some o' the stones should 

 tumble." 



" Ca-a-pital! " added Will Sykes admir- 

 ingly. ** I like a sharp and ready tongue. 

 But you don't really mean to say, Tom, that 

 you think hounds have a way of speaking to 

 one another ? ' ' 



'* Yes, I do," replied the whipper-in; "and 

 have no doubt of the fact. They have the 

 sense," continued he, *' to understand what 

 we say to them, and a great deal, in my 

 opinion, of what we say of them; and it's 

 quite as natural, if not more so, that they 

 should have a language of their own, as it is 

 for them to comprehend a foreign one." 



** Your notions are queer ones, Tom," 

 observed the huntsman. ** And you'd have 

 me believe, I suppose, that Ringwood there 

 has been told what he's going to do? " 



** Nothing more likely," replied Tom Holt. 



