Fox-Hunting in New England. 95 



foot is here," so he reasons, "and he must have jumped from the 

 fence between here and the place where I found it," and acting on this 

 logical conclusion, he circles widely till he has picked up the trail once 

 more, and goes merrily on to the sheep pasture. Here satisfying him- 

 self of the character of this trick, he adopts the same plan employed 

 at the plowed field, and after a little finds the trail on the other side 

 and follows it to the hill, but more slowly now, for the fox has been 

 gone some time ; the frost has melted, the moisture is exhaling, and 

 the scent growing cold. The fox has long since reached the hill and 

 half encircled it, and now hearing the voices of the hounds so far away 

 and so slowly nearing, has bestowed himself on the mossy cushion 

 of a knoll for rest and cogitation. Here he lies for a half hour or 

 more, but always alert and listening, while the dogs draw slowly 

 on, now almost losing the trail on a dry ledge, now catching it in 

 a moist, propitious hollow, till at last a nearer burst warns poor sly- 

 boots that he must again up and away. He may circle about or 

 " play," as we term it, on this hill, till you have reached a run-way 

 on it where you may get a shot ; or, when you have toiled painfully 

 up the steep western pitch and have just reached the top, blown, leg- 

 weary, but expectant, he will probably utterly disappoint and exas- 

 perate you by leaving this hill and returning to the one he and you 

 have so lately quitted, — yea, he will even intensify the bitterness of 

 your heart by taking in his way one or two or three points where 

 you were standing half an hour ago ! What is to be done ? He 

 may run for hours, now on the hill where he was started, or he may 

 be back here again before the hunter can have regained that. To 

 hesitate may be to lose, may be to gain, the coveted shot. One must 

 choose as soon as may be and take his chances. If two persons 

 are hunting in company, one should keep to this hill, the other to 

 that, or while on the same hill, or in the same wood, each to his chosen 

 run-way, thus doubling the chances of a shot. 



At last, the hounds may be heard baying continuously in one 

 place, and by this and their peculiar intonation, one may know 

 that the fox, finding his tricks unavailing, has run to earth, or, as we 

 have it, " has holed." Guided to his retreat by the voices of the hounds, 

 you find them there, by turns, baying angrily and impatiently and 

 tearing away, tooth and nail, the obstructing roots and earth. If in 

 a sandy or loamy bank, the fox may, with pick and spade, be dug 



