SCIENCE OF FOXHUXTIXG. 373 



'^ Lower down, gentlemen/^ said a cowman, in 

 answer to a question addressed to him, " jou can get 

 over bv the mill;" and without further delay, away 

 rode forty-eight of the field. Will Headman, 

 whose sharp eye detected a landing place on the 

 other side, where the cows came down to drink, 

 cried out to John Staveley, " Here, squire, follow 

 me ; if you don^t mind a dip under water, I knows 

 how to land you again ; '' and dash into the middle 

 of the stream he leaped, with Jem on one side, and 

 Staveley on the other ; and after a ducking all three 

 emerged safely, and landed on terra firma. Two 

 others followed their example, when they had seen 

 how they succeded in battling with this formidable 

 obstacle ; but the trio were two fields ahead ere they 

 had accomplished their in and out, not quite so 

 cleverly as they expected. 



"Egad, WilV^ exclaimed Staveley, whose teeth 

 were chattering like castanets with the cold, " I 

 don^t much fancy this sort of thing ; water isn^t to 

 my taste at any time.^^ 



"Not unlikely, squire, but it must be taken 

 sometimes, and we shall soon get dry again by hard 

 riding. Besides which, we are all right with the 

 hounds, and the other gents are all wrong about 

 that bridge, which lies more than a mile up stream, 

 and the hounds are pointing toother way, so we shall 

 have ^em all to ourselves.''^ 



For fifty minutes the fox ran straight ahead, as if 

 making for some large woodlands in their neigh- 

 bour's country; but on crossing a large open 

 common, on which a herd of cattle were seen 



