THE IJFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



myself. That is not a bad hit of yours, however, sir. You'll do 

 in time! 



Frank. — ' But, Dick, what a head they carried over Groseby 

 field. As the leaps were not too much for Rodney, I was pretty 

 near you — was I not, Will ? (addressing himself to the whipper- 

 in). And I saw that young bitch. Melody, that papa is so fond 

 of, guiding the scent for at least half a mile. He declares he 

 would not take ten pounds for her.' 



Dick. — ' I would not take half that sum for her myself, sir. 

 She is by the old Duke of Grafton's Tyrant, out of our old 

 Melody, and has all the good qualities of a foxhound with 

 those of the harrier. But, Master Francis, who told you about 

 a hound " guiding the scent " ? It's a monstrous good notion, 

 but we always say " guiding the pick." ' 



Frank. — ' It is what Mr. Egerton calls a " figure of speech," 

 Dick.' 



Dick. — ' Ah ! sir, see what it is not to have a larning ! I 

 shall never talk again about a hound guiding the pack, as I am 

 all for a bit of novelty in my trade when I can get it. And I 

 see no reason why hare-hunting should remain where my 

 grandfather left it, when, as Squire Talbot says, the hares 

 never went out of their own parishes.' 



Frank. — 'Mr. Egerton says there has been a great deal 

 written about hunting hares, which I shall know when I come 

 to read Greek. One Xenophon, he says, wrote about it more 

 than two thousand years ago ; and another Greek writer, called 

 Homer, compared hounds running a hare through thick woods, 

 to two great warriors pursuing an enemy by night.' 



Dick. — ' I don't doubt it, sir. That Mr. Egerton is a clever 

 gentleman ; I wish he would come a-hunting, as, perhaps, he 

 might write something about it, for I don't know of any one 

 having done so since the gentlemen you have just mentioned, 

 and it is but a few that could read what they have said.' 



Our hero was on the point of joining with the huntsman in 

 the wish that his tutor would take the field, when Mr. Raby 

 and the rest of the party came up, and orders were given to 

 draw for a hare, in a fallow adjoining the road, which having 

 been long ploughed, was considered likely to produce one. It 

 did so ; a brilliant burst was the result ; and, at the end of 

 thirty-two minutes, Dick had her in his hand, as stiff" as if she 

 had been six years in a museum. Another run followed, iii 



25 



