FOX-HUNTING OUTSIDE THE SHIRES. 17 



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upraised ready for a blast. " Hoick forward, boys ! " he shouts 

 joyously, as Vulcan's deep note proclaims a recovered scent. 

 The Fox, too stout-hearted to be headed from his point, has 

 slipped along a hedgerow unseen by the ploughman, and is setting 

 his neck straight for some earths three miles off. But that check 

 has given him a long start, and scent is cold on flinty hills. The 

 hounds can hardly own to it at times, but they keep driving 

 steadily on, and a true sportsman may well take delight in every 

 exhibition of their sagacity, as, in their rivalry, one after another 

 takes up the thread of pursuit. Presently their pace quickens, and 

 we must gallop fast to catch them. They crash through a narrow 

 shaw and race up hill towards a belt of trees. But it is too late. 

 The Fox has found shelter in an open earth, and there one may be 

 content to leave him with hounds baying about his stronghold. 

 Digging for a Fox is often a necessity when the pack needs blood 

 to give it encouragement, and to such conclusion a fox-hunting run 

 in an unfashionable country often leads ; but not every sportsman 

 can take pleasure in it. 



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