80 THE LIFE OF A FOX 



to go home. 1 believe that this kind of mistake, 

 or rather neglect, has been frequent on the part of 

 other hmitsmen by whom I have been hunted. 

 Be that as it may, one or two escapes from this 

 able man and his pack were sufficient to induce 

 me to get quickly into another hunt out of his 

 way. Those escapes may be attributed to the want 

 of scent, and they ^^■ill not seem surprising, if the 

 time be calculated which was lost at every check, 

 whilst I was going on A\'ithout listening as the hare 

 always does. HaAing stopped some httle time in 

 a strong covert of gorse in an open do-vni, m JNIr. 

 Drax's countrj^ south of Blandford, and close ad- 

 joining to Lord Portman's, I was one morning 

 annoyed by hearing the voice of Mr. Drax's hunts- 

 man, John Last, who was di'amng the covert mth 

 his hounds, by Avhich I was shortly after surrounded. 

 Being ignorant of the runs and tracks in the gorse, 

 I was so pressed by them that I sprung upon the 

 top of the gorse, and ran along it for a few yards, 

 but the hallooing of the hunters soon frightened 

 me down again. At length I went straight away 

 across the do^m in ^iew of all the hunters, and had 

 not gone more than a hundred yards before a large 

 man on a hea\y gray horse rode between me and 

 the covert, and began hallooing in the most 



