ii8 HOUND AND HORN 



Ruberslaw" gave such a fast and straight chase, 

 over an unusual line, if not a very long one. 



It was on the 25th January, the beginning of the 

 period when good hunts are expected, and a good 

 scent is assured. Hounds had found in the rocks, 

 and luckily were above the fox when he ran down 

 west of the seedlings by West Lees and crossed 

 the river above the keeper's house, hounds follow- 

 ing slowly till they crossed. The Bedrule shepherd 

 viewed and holloaed him there ; and after that 

 hounds drove hard every yard of the way. They 

 ran up Fulton Hill to west of Bedrule pond, down the 

 old toll strip, across Swinnie to west of Gilliestongues 

 and crossed Bairnkin strip and Bairnkin road in and 

 out, east of the entry, up the Kersheugh and Ford 

 strip to the Flat, without a waver and with a full cry 

 all the time, down to Scraesburgh Moss, then sharp 

 right-handed past the Ford cottages to Mossburnford 

 Bank, where the cry ceased suddenly. Hounds 

 came pouring down to the Ford and started to 

 drink and bathe, and George Dod, who had joined 

 in, began to whoop from the bank, and I saw him 

 lift the fox over the fence out of the wood. He 

 had found him crouching as if in life — in fact, at 

 first he thought he was still alive — with old Marmion 

 lying facing him and growling savagely. He was 

 the finest specimen of a fox I ever saw ; in his 

 prime, probably second or third season — long, lean, 

 and limber, with the pointed muzzle of the Cheviot 

 foxes, grey back and magnificent brush. It almost 

 seemed a shame to tear him ; and by the time we 

 were ready for it, he was so stiff that when we 

 propped him up on his legs he stood there, and 



