334 REMINISCENCES OF A HUNTSMAN 



hounds were " let alone/' and, after a vast deal of delay, they picked out 

 the line across my lawn, over Chuton Plough, and up to the road where 

 Mr. Aldridge the farmer had viewed the fox, and, consequently, by my 

 watch, they reached the road twenty minutes behind their fox, instead of 

 five minutes. Thus, by a judicious lift, fifteen minutes would have been 

 saved. The hounds then carried the line coldly over Chuton Common, 

 through Dr. Wyndham's, and along the harsh cold ground between the 

 Lymington road and the New Forest on to Ashley Common. The dis- 

 tance, as the hounds ran, ring to Mudeford and all, was perhaps seven or 

 eight miles, done by them at a very slow pace, but I suspect that the fox 

 did the distance at the very top of his speed ; for he fell back towards his 

 pursuers, and on seeing or hearing some shooters in a wood ahead of him, 

 was glad of the excuse to lie down. His method of crossing the common 

 showed uncertainty and distress, and, refusing to take the brook at the 

 foot of it, he went a long distance on its bank, and then retraced his 

 steps ; so closely did he retrace his footsteps, that on the hounds return- 

 ing with the scent, Mr. Shedden made the remark to me, that " he 

 feared it was on heel." I said I thought the hounds were right, and that 

 they were so was proved by their not going all the way back ; but on 

 reaching about half way, they paused at a place on the brook they had 

 previously passed, and hit him over. We all went through a sort of 

 gateway or ford between the wood and the hounds, and as we did so we 

 met the fox not two hundred yards before the pack. The fox either lay 

 down or passed through some rough grass and thorns which hid him ; 

 the hounds were at a check, and Mr. Shedden touched his horn. Seeing 

 that the hounds did not come, I slipped back, down the side of the wood ; 

 but seeing a whipper-in there, I went on and re-crossed the brook to look 

 out that way, and took my stand on a rise on the common, commanding 

 a full view of Mr. Shedden and his hounds. I had not been there a 

 moment when I saw a labourer on the common point with his hand 

 towards Mr. Shedden, and holloa. I was soon by the man's side and 

 stopped his noise, for he as well as myself then saw the fox showing every 

 symptom of distress not a hundred yards from the hounds and Mr. 

 Shedden, trotting slowly over a cold wet fallow behind them, on and 

 about which they were checking. The fox came on towards me, and 

 seeing my red coat, he instantly crouched down in a furrow. Mr. 

 Shedden and his hounds were a vast deal nearer to him than I was, and 

 had I holloaed, the chances were that Mr. Shedden, if he came, would 

 come over the ford of the brook, which, from its nature not its size, was 

 not at that place jumpable, and be farther from his fox than ever. I 

 therefore sat still, the fox and myself looking at each other, and hoped 

 the hounds would hit him off. This they did not do ; and, seeing that 

 they still were left puzzling about the fallows, I ventured on one cry to 



