CHAPTER XI 



A HOUND HAVER 



^^ He guides thou in covert, he leads them in chase, 

 Tho' the young and the jealous try hard for his place, 

 ^Tis * Bachelor^ always is first in the race ; 

 He beats them for nose and he beats them for pace ; 

 Hark forward to ' Bachelor.' " 



— Whyte-Melville. 



THE frost was holding and getting keener, 

 and it was difficult to get horses exercised, 

 for there was not much snow ; so hounds 

 were physicked and their coats dusted with sulphur ; 

 and we took to curling. Billy did not care much for 

 the game, but rode out to the pond and came home 

 with me. Our horses had frost nails in their shoes, 

 and we were able to jog slowly along the crackling 

 roads, making as much noise as would an artillery 

 waggon. As we approached the out-buildings behind 

 the stable we heard a scrimmage of some sort going 

 on, and Billy said, ** My word, those tom-cats are 

 having a battle royal ! " 



*' Chut, Bill, it's two foxes fighting." 



And sure enough, as we came round the corner 

 we saw two long forms separate and pop over into 

 the deep glen behind the kennels. 



There was more frost and snow during the night, 



and the morning was spent in the kennels. To Tom 



the feeder we related the incident of the night before, 



107 



