ALL FAIR IX WAR. 139 



horse that had been my crack hunter ; my friend 

 on a Galloway mare of mine, much under fourteen 

 hands. 



" What am I to do/^ said my friend, ^' if the 

 hare takes across the fields ; will this pony lead 

 over ? ^' 



" You need not trouble yourself to lead her/^ 

 said I j " she will carry you over anything you 

 will meet hereabouts ; I put you on her to show 

 what little ones can do ; that Galloway, in give 

 and take hurdle races, that is, weight for inches, 

 has beat some very fair full-sized horses; so follow 

 me on my old cripple; if the pony baulks or 

 falls, 1^11 give her to you/^ 



We found a hare who went off straight for 

 some plantations half a mile off: this was all fair 

 so far, the dogs ran up to her, and now their game 

 began ; and theirs in short was, in another sense, 

 a give and take race or course, for one of them 

 always took care to be half a dozen lengths behind 

 the other; so the moment the leading dog turned 

 puss, the other was on her ; thus they had scarcely 

 run up to their game before, after a turn or two, 

 she was in one or the other^s mouth ; and so well 

 did they understaiid this by-play, that if they 

 once got near a hare, she was booked to a 

 certainty. 



" Pray,^^ said my friend, " do you call this fair 

 towards poor puss ? " 



