CHAPTER X 

 A FOX-HUNT IN THE DOWNS 



Leaving kennel — Over the down slopes — Seagulls — A quiet hamlet — 

 The meet — The find — A rousing gallop — The fox reappears — A 

 transformation — Hounds in view — A check — The huntsman's cast 

 into covert — The beaten fox — An invincible determination — The un- 

 friendly plough — A game beast of chase — The death. 



THE kennels lie snugly at the foot of one of those 

 great smooth hills of grass which stand sentinel 

 above the Channel upon the Sussex shore. It is ten 

 o'clock, and the hounds are just quitting their en- 

 closure. They stream through the gate held open for 

 them by one of the whips and pour out upon the grass 

 slope, all mad with pleasure and excitement at the 

 prospect of a whole day of liberty and a fox chase or 

 two thrown in. It is a short hour's ride to the meet, 

 and huntsman, whips, and pack climb leisurely the 

 slope of the great down which in smooth contour 

 stands above them. It has been a night of frost, but 

 already the sun is asserting his strength ; the white 

 rime that met his rays is already turned to moisture ; 

 every leaf of the short herbage glistens, and there 

 will be abundance of scent for some hours. The three 

 figures in red show up bravely upon the hillside, as 

 they rise obliquely the six hundred feet of down, and 

 the sun flicks keen flashes of light from spur and bit. 

 That smooth grass path which they are ascending has 

 been worn for them by the patient feet of Saxon hinds, 

 who for a thousand years have followed it. Presently 



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