PYTCHLY'S STORY 71 



foxes being killed at the present time than when 

 Charles King hunted the hounds. I have heard 

 my old granny say that the first thing his lordship 

 thought of and wished to do, Avas to improve and 

 strengthen his pack in every possible way. Of late, 

 the pack has been thought to be of least considera- 

 tion ; and it would seem by the system adopted, 

 that a fox is to be run down by men who can ride 

 fast, and that whippers-in are nearly all that is 

 wanted. For instance, when I have been pursued 

 by the hounds, if I have run towards or through 

 any covert, I have frequently been astonished, after 

 passing through it, and almost before the hounds 

 had arrived at it, to see one of the whippers-in 

 riding beyond it, in order to see me go away, which 

 he rarely or never could do ; and if he did by 

 accident get in time to see me at all, the consequence 

 was, that when I saw him I went back again into 

 the covert, and then, if there was any fresh fox or 

 foxes in it, they were pretty sure to be changed and 

 hunted, and I escaped. It generally happened that 

 I had gone on through the covert before the 

 whipper-in got round, in time to see, not me, but a 

 fresh fox go away, to which he would probably 

 haUoo on the hounds, and, not knowing the differ- 

 ence, declare it was the hunted one. 



