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CHAPTER III. 



BEAGLING. 



By G, H, Longman, 



Though perhaps it may be too much to say that hunting the 

 hare on foot with a pack of 15-in. beagles is the most interesting 

 method of pursuing the animal, still, if the evenness of the 

 chances is to be the criterion of interest, certainly the contest 

 between a good pack of beagles and a strong hare^ — the odds 

 being slightly in favour of the latter — presents sport in its truest 

 elements. 



A good pack of these little hounds will no doubt on a good 

 scenting day account for any hare, barring accidents ; but these 

 accidents are extremely numerous, the first and foremost 

 being the rising up in the middle of the pack of a fresh 

 hare just as the hunted animal is evidently sinking. This mishap 

 occurs more frequently than any other, and is generally 

 irremediable. Imagine a large ploughed field of stiff clay, the 

 hunted hare down, and hounds just feathering on the line, scent 

 having become a little weak. The huntsman is nearest (and all 

 praise to him, as hounds have run hard for forty minutes !) ; he 

 has pulled up to a walk, for the clay land clings to each boot 

 with a tenacity which renders even walking a wearisome struggle. 

 He knows well that the moment is critical, as there are probably 

 fresh hares lying in the field ; that scent may so far fail as to 

 compel him to make a cast ; and that this will certainly increase 

 the already imminent danger of a change. He is just stopping, 

 in order to keep well away from his hounds, when he almost 

 treads on a fresh hare which gets up under his feet. She heads 

 straight for the pack, but our huntsman stands still as death ; 

 puss, seeing hounds, swerves away without their catching a view, 

 and the danger of a change is for the moment past. But our 

 huntsman's eyes are at work, and he presently observes a dark 

 form stealing away about a hundred yards in front of the pack. 

 He looks again, makes sure that it is his hare, and then, blowing 

 his horn, has his hounds to him in a trice, while he gamely 

 struggles through the clay at the best pace he can muster towards 



