460 The Wilderness Hunter. 



throughout the run ; though in one or two of the best 

 covers, as the journal records, Washington " directed 

 paths to be cut for Fox Hunting." This thickness of the 

 timber made it difficult to keep the hounds always under 

 control ; and there are frequent allusions to their going 

 off on their own account, as "Joined some dogs that were 

 self hunting." Sometimes the hounds got so far away 

 that it was impossible to tell whether they had killed or 

 not, the journal remarking " catched nothing that we know 

 of," or " found a fox at the head of the blind Pocoson which 

 we suppose was killed in an hour but could not find it." 



Another result of this density and continuity of cover 

 was the frequent recurrence of days of ill success. There 

 are many such entries as : " Went Fox hunting, but started 

 nothing"; "Went a hunting, but catched nothing"; 

 "found nothing"; "found a Fox and lost it." Often 

 failure followed long and hard runs: "Started a Fox, 

 run him four hours, took the Hounds off at night"; 

 " found a Fox and run it 6 hours and then lost " ; " Went 

 a hunting above Darrells . . . found a fox by two 

 Dogs but lost it upon joining the Pack." In the season 

 of 1772-73 Washington hunted eighteen days and killed 

 nine foxes ; and though there were seasons when he was 

 out much more often, this proportion of kills to runs was 

 if anything above the average. At the beginning of 1 768 

 he met with a series of blank days which might well have 

 daunted a less patient and persevering hunter. In Jan- 

 uary and the early part of February he was out nine 

 times without getting a thing ; but his diary does not con- 

 tain a word of disappointment or surprise, each successive 



