IN THE WEALD 75. 
the hound nosed when he reached it, a fortunate cir- 
cumstance for the man although he did not consider 
it so at the time for it caused a slight delay. 
Dashing round a corner, he cleared a low hedge, ran 
across a meadow, and gained the back part of the 
small inn where he had put up, breathless. After 
cooling down a little and making himself presentable, 
he had a glass or two of ale, and went to bed. The 
next morning, as he sat in the neat little bar-parlour, 
turning over in his own mind whether it would not 
be better to clear out and visit new pastures, one of 
those nondescript individuals that are to be found 
on all estates where game is preserved strolled in with 
a couple of beagles. To all appearance he was- 
merely exercising the dogs, but in reality he was in 
search of information. The man was dressed in 
keeper-fashion, although in the strict sense of the 
word he was not a keeper, for he had not reached 
the gun-carrying stage. 
After some commonplace remarks about the 
weather, the landlord, who knew him, asked if he 
would not come in and rest a bit, and wash the dry- 
ness down. With a half-muttered protest to the 
effect that it ' wud hardly do if the " head un " 
ketched him there,' he walked in, and after he had 
seen the bottom of one pint-jug and ordered another,. 
