372 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 



for notliing; and I always backs them barren clowns, 

 as you call them, against meadow lands, as holding 

 a better scent any day in the week. You see, 

 squire, scent depends more or less upon the air than 

 upon the ^arth and I dare say youVe noticed a sharp 

 frost take more hold of things under the hill than atop 

 of it. Hark ! to Counsellor. Have at him, my lads ! 

 hoic together! hoic! They're a- sticking to him, sir, 

 and one more round will about satisfy him. But, as 

 I were saying, there ain't such a thing as a rule for 

 scent ; nobody can tell anything about it except by 

 experience. Your wiseacres — book men — them as 

 sucks other folks' brains for what they puts in print — 

 knows all about it, in course, and talks a deal about 

 ^atmospherical and terrestrial influences ; and yet, 

 squire, they knows no more about what they are 

 writing than a schoolboy beginning to spell liis 

 ABC does about grammar. But there's Jem's 

 holloa — he's away ; and we'll talk more on scent, sir, 

 as -we goes home wdth his brush." 



A rush was instantly made by some fifty of the 

 right sort, who still followed the hounds into the 

 vale ; but it was evident, after crossing the first large 

 grass field, that there was but a holding scent, and 

 not much chance of the pack getting clear, as in 

 the morning, of the horsemen. The fences, however, 

 proved strong enough for the veriest glutton, which 

 w^ent for something, and the pace good enough to 

 keep them from riding too close, until they reached 

 the bank of a wide and deep river intersecting the 

 country, and at a point where no friendly bridge was 

 perceptible. 



