SOME BY-DAYS 121 



hounds. My horse was utterly done, reduced to a 

 walk, and Billy and Jack were not much better. They 

 had gone on, and I was wandering slowly up the 

 road by the riverside. My horse was so exhausted 

 that I had to put him into the stable, when a chilled 

 drink and some old bog hay revived him a little. 

 Some boys came to say they thought the fox was 

 " holed " in the bank about a mile higher up the river. 

 I went on and found two young hounds marking in 

 a half-hearted way at the opening of a stone conduit 

 which I knew and feared, because we had never been 

 able to bolt from it. The terrier came up and showed 

 us that there could be no access as, a few yards 

 from the mouth, the roof had fallen in and was 

 blocking it. I kept blowing at intervals, this bringing 

 in two or three couples, all of which were panting 

 and had the appearance of having been recently 

 in chase. By this time it was quite dark, and I 

 was on the point of returning to get my horse, 

 when I heard a faint cry in the distance. This 

 gradually came nearer and nearer, till I realised that 

 hounds were running down the wooded bank of the 

 river and very near their fox. Enjoining the boys to 

 keep perfectly quiet, we held our breath and listened 

 to the approaching chorus. Something glided past on 

 the loose stones above me, followed by the dash of 

 a couple of hounds close behind it ; those we were 

 endeavouring to hold broke away and darted after 

 them, then there was a splashing in the river, and 

 a '^ skirling " as of cats fighting, a hound which had 

 been nipped calling out, then a rush of more hounds 

 almost to my very feet as they flung themselves into 

 the stream and grabbed and tore savagely at the 



