Driving to Hounds 255 



I hoped no one would see us, for surely the Doctor 

 would have been thought crazy or drunk, he was so 

 completely transformed from his usual dignified manner. 

 When he entered a patient's house or walked the streets he 

 carried himself like a churchwarden taking the Sunday 

 collection; yet, to see him now, one might have thought 

 him a boy of eight waiting for his father to come home 

 with fire-crackers and punk for a Fourth-of-July cele- 

 bration. 



** I believe they are coming this way ! " And again the 

 Doctor stood up, and I looked round to see if any one 

 could see us. 



" I hear them ! " he cried at last; and then he clutched 

 me by the collar for support, and stood up on the cushion. 

 I expected every moment to see him lose his balance and 

 go headlong. It was a sight to make one tremble — two 

 hundred and twenty-five pounds and six feet balancing 

 itself on the cushions of a side-bar buggy and gesticulating 

 wildly. 



" Sit down ! " I cried. " Your mare will start and pitch 

 you out." 



He stepped down at last, and called to his great pointer 

 Sancho to jump into the waggon. There stood the little 

 mare, with ears sharp ahead, and the pointer with his fore 

 feet on the dash-board, looking first into the Doctor's face 

 and then in the direction indicated by his extended 

 finger. 



" Here they come ! Here they come ! " shouted the 

 Doctor, as a dozen hounds came tumbling over the fence 

 on the far side of a great level meadow. " Here they 



