8 Life in the Open 



a long grey object with ears flattened out upon his back 

 a sure signal of distress and a certain halting motion 

 that those well in the front take as an indication of 

 a coming trick, a " grandstand play " for which the game 

 is famous, and here it is. 



The jack apparently disappears ; horses are jerked 

 on to their haunches, a cloud of dust rises, dogs reach 

 out and snap at something as it passes, phantom-like, 

 and you and I and the master of the hounds are away 

 on exactly the back track, and the jack has gained one 

 hundred feet. If you have been at the front you will 

 know what it all means. The jack stopped suddenly 

 turned about a clump of sage in the open, and dashed 

 back directly beneath the horses' feet. Mouse, my own 

 hound, misses him by the length of a tail, and other 

 hounds snap at him as he goes by, unable to stop 

 themselves, while the clever hare, taking all the chances, 

 dashes beneath the horses, and makes a splendid play for 

 liberty. This turn is shown in the accompanying pic- 

 ture * by Brewer, from a sketch of my own made from 

 memory as I saw the manoeuvre, the jack running 

 directly between the feet of my horse, which should 

 be shown nearer in the illustration. It is here that the 

 hunter who has given out and is looking on from some 

 comfortable vantage-ground, often comes into his own 

 without the attendant exertions, as the jack comes back, 

 and possibly is killed in front of him. 



In five minutes the horses and riders that have stood 



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