A RECORD DAY 147 



we could see all round for two miles apparentl}^, not 

 a hound could we pick up ; they seemed to have 

 vanished out of sight and hearing into space. A 

 shepherd on a hilltop above us with his cap on his 

 stick gave us the direction, and we pushed on. 

 Some grouse, coming down wind with the speed 

 of an express train, confirmed the shepherd, and 

 soon we saw far below us once more the flying 

 pack, sweeping along like a flock of pigeons before 

 a tempest. 



The line was now more or less parallel to the 

 outward one, and about three-quarters of a mile 

 from that, and it was not without very hard riding 

 that we got in touch with hounds, who had gone 

 very fast away from us over the hill. By the time 

 we got into enclosed country again our numbers 

 were reduced, and horses had had nearl3^ enough- 

 The two young farmers who had consistently led 

 most of the way were there, one with a lathered 

 horse and a mud-stained back, and Billy Kerr had 

 vanished altogether. 



'Twas here that I saw the last of Tom Telfer 

 for a while. With legs and arms working, he 

 rode at an awkward double with a strong hedge 

 on the farther side. His horse jumped on to the 

 bank rather free, and got too close under the 

 second fence, and though he made a big effort to 

 clear it, he blundered through the top of it on to 

 his nose, and Tom temporarily disappeared from the 

 chase. 



One of the brothers, in jumping a low drop wall 

 into a plough, found his horse get his fore-legs 

 so deep into the ground that he was unable to 



