ODDS AND ENDS. I I9 



Huntingdon to draw a small heap of stones 

 covered with gorse and blackthorn in the middle 

 of the field, where he said he had frequently 

 seen a fox. His Lordship, ever ready to oblige, 

 though he doubted much finding there, did so, 

 and the hounds had no sooner dashed into the 

 brake than they came out on the far side with a 

 magnificent huge dog fox right in their midst. 

 Under them, over them, through them he 

 dashed, just missing their jaws by a miracle, 

 and finally extricating himself from the pack, 

 with about three feet start, he set his mask for 

 the covert we had just left on the hillside some 

 three hundred yards distant. I wish I could 

 have timed the pace for that three hundred 



yards ! 



" Nor nearer could the hounds attain, 

 Nor farther could the quarry strain." 



And so across the field they raced without a 

 whimper. 



" Silence, you know, is the criterion of pace." 

 "They'll have him at the edge of the gorse," 

 the Master said, and evidently so the hounds 

 expected, and closed on him as he neared the 

 covert. However, the fox, with his ears laid 

 back and his teeth bared as he cast a hasty 

 glance on either side of him as much as to say, 



