HARE HUNTING ON THE BRIGHTON DOWNS. 281 



just in time to escape destruction at the feet of some hot- 

 tempered steeds whose riders have lost all control, and then 

 there is a sudden halt of the main body, which by one impulse 

 comes to a standstill on the verge of that forbidding declivity. A 

 few bold riders push through the throng, and, with horses well in 

 hand, follow the lead of hounds. The less experienced try going 

 down aslant the slope, until they discover how risky that crab-like 

 motion is ; but two or three who have hunted over these downs 

 from boyhood go straight, so that their nimble steeds with 

 cautious bounds may find firm footing at every stride. They go 

 slowly at first, but weight and impetus begin to tell, until every 

 horse seems to roll like a ball, with a speed that carries him 

 far across the rounded fields below. It is not always safe to 

 stay on the ridge in expectation of the hare coming back, as the 

 timid and too clever discover when they hear the chase rolling 

 away from them in the distance. Over a brook and stretches of 

 level meadow, beyond, the hounds speed on, followed by no 

 more than half-a-dozen riders ; into a belt of copse, then out 

 again, and run wide rings across enclosed fields, where stiff 

 fences give the fortunate few a merry time. Finding no safe 

 refuge in woodland, hedge, or sheltered hollow, the hare tries at 

 length to make for a haven of rest on the hills, but strength 

 failing before that can be reached, he falls into the jaws of his 

 relentless pursuers, and people waiting on the ridge see only 

 the end of a good run. Not very often does this happen. More 

 frequently hares found in the lowlands take at once to some 

 favourite point on the- hills, and if native there they seldom 

 leave high ground except for a few minutes, and with the evident 

 object of shaking off pursuit on the steep ascents as they come 



o o 



