148 HOUND AND HORN 



get them out in time before his hind-quarters 

 followed, and he was pushed on to his head and 

 balanced there for a while before rolling over and 

 lying still as if dead. But man and horse were up 

 and going later on. The Irish mare had chanced 

 a piece of timber and rapped her shins badly, and 

 needed some persuasion to keep going. 



We had some very pretty hunting here ; hounds 

 were desperately keen and unmistakably near their 

 fox, but scent was not so good, and one after 

 another would carry it for a short while, then fall 

 back and allow a slower hunter to take it on and 

 follow the short turns the fox was making. It was 

 an anxious time as they almost walked over a bare 

 fallow and on to the public road but not across it. 

 After a short cast round in front, one hound, old 

 Welfare, feathered and spoke on the road going along 

 for about a hundred yards, then through the hedge 

 and up a ditch on the inside for a short distance 

 till she too gave up. For five or ten minutes every 

 hound tried his best, all being very busy moving round 

 with nose on the ground and stern high, but to no 

 purpose. The field kept coming up, and several dis- 

 mounted, got down, and loosened the girths of their 

 steaming horses, believing all was over. 



We were on some flat haugh lands, close to the 

 river bounding our country, which was in full 

 flood, and I was about to try down the river bank, 

 when I saw old Rambler deliberately walk into the 

 stream and push off to swim across the torrent. 

 He was carried down a long way, and had some 

 difficulty in getting out. Barely waiting to shake 

 himself dry, the true old fellow worked along for 



