SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 875 



CHAPTER XLIV. 



A cold bath — Beaten horses and a beaten fox — Will Headman tastes 

 somethinrr stronger than pea soup — Jem and the miller— Two 

 ways of letting off steam — Our huntsman's ideas about scent — 

 The Queen's Head — Staveley and the old waiter — Lame hounds — 

 The jog home. 



When Will Headman, followed by John Staveley, 

 reached the brow of the hill under which lay the 

 head of earths just tried by the old fox he was 

 pursuing, their horses were pretty much in the same 

 condition as the wily animal, in short — to use a 

 homely phrase, they were ^^ used up,^^ or done up so 

 completely that they could not make a trot of it one 

 yard further ; and to add to their despair under such 

 distressing circumstances, the fox did not choose to 

 die upon the earths, but with an energy peculiar to 

 sinking vulpines, after giving his enemies a turn 

 round the covert, he again broke away at the lower 

 end of it, with the eighteen couples not a hundred 

 yards from his brush. Headman watched his last 

 exit for a second or two with an intense scrutiny -, 

 then, jumping from his saddle, said quickly, 

 " Squire, will you hold my horse, he can't jump 

 another fence; but, although not so lithesome as 

 twenty years ago, I can see the finish on foot. He's 

 running now for those farm buildings, and he can't 

 go beyond them.'' 



In a trice Headman was bundling down the hill, 



