no HOUND AND HORN 



invisible. Some of the shepherds have said to me : 

 ' A see ye ha' gotten a " beardie " amang them ; he'll 

 be mair gleg as the feck o' them.' I wish I had a 

 few more like him." 

 '' Pirate, is that ? " 



" Yes ; alongside of Dexter. Those two are at 

 their best in a straight-out chase ; don't try very 

 well sometimes, and are too eager for a start — that 

 is, they don't work a fox close in a big thick cover 

 to push him out ; but they, along with Challenger, 

 are always first out ; demons to drive a straight-going 

 fox ; run consistently at head and keep there until 

 the finish. They are not the least jealous of each 

 other — in fact, seem to work to each other ; but I 

 fancy I have seen them a little jealous of the rest." 

 '* A little light of tongue. Challenger, isn't he ? " 

 " He has plenty, but it's soft and very high-pitched, 

 and although he's always using it, on a windy day 

 you don't always hear him at a distance ; but as he 

 is generally with those other two and Regent, who all 

 speak freely, it's not felt as a fault." 



" A bad point in a pack is a mute hound, eh ? " 

 " The worst sort of all, and not to be tolerated for 

 a day, however good he may be in all other respects." 

 " But you can't complain of this now, for the last 

 time they ran down the glen, and only twelve and a 

 half couple out, every hound was speaking freely. It 

 positively made me tingle all over, and the cry might 

 have been from twenty couple of throats." 

 " Yes ; they're all right for tongue." 

 *^ Sometimes a little slack in drawing, eh ? " 

 ** Well, if they are, I put that down to the fact that 

 the country is so well stocked with foxes (in the early 



