158 The Gamekeeper at Home. 



excursion over hill and dale, through the deep coun- 

 try lanes, and across the open down land, carrying 

 with them two or three such dogs to let loose as 

 opportunity offers. Their appearance as they rattle 

 along is certainly not prepossessing ; the expression 

 of their canine friends trotting under the trap, or peer- 

 ing over the side, stamps them at the first glance as 

 ' snappers up of unconsidered trifles ; ' but you cannot 

 arrest these gentlemen peacefully driving on the 

 * king's highway ' simply because they have an ugly 

 look about them. From the trap they get a better 

 view than on foot ; standing up they can see over a 

 moderately high hedge, and they can beat a rapid 

 retreat if necessary, with the aid of a wiry pony. 

 Passing by some meadows, they note a goodly num- 

 ber of rabbits feeding in the short aftermath. They 

 draw up by a gateway, and one of them dismounts. 

 With the dogs he creeps along behind the hedge (the 

 object being to get between the bunnies and their 

 holes), and presently sends the dogs on their mission. 

 The lurchers are tolerably sure of catching a couple — 

 young rabbits are neither so swift nor so quick at 

 doubling as the older ones. Before the farmer and 

 his men, who are carting the summer-ricks in an ad- 

 jacent field, can quite comprehend what the unusual 

 stir is about yonder, the poachers are off, jogging 



