58 HOUND AND HORN 



Not one whit behind their masters in keenness and 

 in fondness of fox-hunting are the hill shepherds. 

 From their point of vantage on a hilltop, behind a 

 stone cairn perhaps, they often see more of the in- 

 cidents of the chase than a regular follower. With 

 an eye like a hawk's, they can view a fox as soon 

 as ever he stirs a mile off. They can pick him up 

 as he crawls along the loose stones of the slithers 

 on a bare hillside, as he creeps the bottom of a 

 sheep drain, or as he slinks through the bracken 

 beds, taking advantage of the formation and colour 

 of every bit of ground to conceal himself till he has 

 selected, his point ; and then they can mark him 

 streaking away like a yellow flash to the heights ; 

 and even long after he is beyond their sight, they 

 see his course by the movement of the sheep, and 

 the swooping of the curlews and the plovers. 



Their delight is to see the hounds run the line 

 out of sight and hearing, and to wait and watch 

 for them coming back again with a tired fox close 

 before them. 



Their dogs are shut up at home on hunting days, 

 and they rarely shout, but communicate their in- 

 telligence by waving their handkerchiefs on the end 

 of a stick. 



I remember a young lad running the best part of 

 two miles to tell me my hunted fox had lain down 

 on a heap of loose stones, and that hounds were 

 running the line of one that had been disturbed by 

 the cry, and had slunk away before we had come 

 into sight. 



But all over the same interest existed. The farm 

 labourers and roadmen were alike pleased to see 



