278 A YEAR OF SPORT AND NATURAL HISTORY. 



who, knowing all about this business, are eager to play a 

 conspicuous part in the first rush. Doubts as to whether man or 

 horse may be master are a little discomforting when the chase 

 seems likely to lead down hillsides steep as the roof of a house. 

 The time comes quickly for a solution of such questions. In 

 the nearest gorse brake, or in a patch of turnips beyond, the 

 hare has been lying snugly concealed, yet wide awake to all 

 the sounds of bustle round about. So much on the alert is he 

 that he does not wait to be found by the pack or ignominiously 

 whipped out of his form. Confident in the possession of speed 

 and cunning, he is ready to try conclusions with the enemies 

 whom he has perhaps beaten by some clever ruse more than 

 once before. A March hare is proverbially wild, and the bright 

 sunshine, or a keen, cold breeze in this fickle month, will often 

 befriend him. Once well away, he can show the clamorous 

 pack his heels and bid them defiance for an hour at least, if he 

 does not escape them altogether. But it is not so easy to get away. 

 The first note of hound music, or a shrill " See ! Ho ! " uttered 

 in quavering treble by some spectator who does not know the 

 rules of the game, is certain to let loose the impatient horsemen in 

 a rush which no mandate of master, or entreaty on the part of 

 his self-elected deputies, can restrain. The timid are carried 

 along in that rush by the bold, and for a time it looks as if 

 everybody were trying his utmost to catch the hare without the 

 aid of hounds. But those who still hold command of their 

 horses find discretion the better part of valour very quickly. 

 The hare, by a dexterous turn, dodges the moving maze of hoofs 

 and dashes down a hillside steeper than many care to risk 

 descending. The pack swings round quickly on the line only 



