BEAGLING 187 



the puppies, who every one of them eouisc the rabl)it 

 for about a hundred yards in full cry. 



Luckily the interloper runs up hill along the fence, 

 so the delinquents are easily stopped by the whipper-in, 

 who is lying back, and turned to the masters horn. 

 It may here be remarked that it is comparatively easy 

 to stop beagles from rabbits in the open. The pack 

 the writer has in mind would always stop if rated when 

 a rabbit got up in an open field ; but in covert, where 

 one could not easily get at them, the case was very 

 different, and you might holloa yourself hoarse with- 

 out producing much effect. Master Bunny, however, 

 only caused a momentary diversion, and hounds, 

 having struck the line in the bottom corner of the 

 fence, are once more chiming away merrily over the 

 heather in the direction of puss's original form. 



Will they catch her ? Well, if she is a leveret her 

 bolt must be nearly shot, but if she is an old hare — 

 and she is big enough ! — she will lead the pack a 

 merry dance for another good half-hour before giving 

 in. So is the fight fought between poor puss and her 

 enemies the beagles. Sometimes a circle ; some- 

 times a straight bolt and then as a rule clapping till 

 hounds are over her, and getting up behind them, 

 making her way home again ; sometimes, though not 

 often, making a long point and dying some five miles 



