116 THE LIFE OF A FOX 



me after I left the covert going apparently much 

 distressed, and evidently the hunted fox, yet the 

 hounds were not allowed to be taken from that 

 which they were running, which it appeared they 

 some time afterwards killed, scarcely having left 

 the covert. 



I had one or two more escapes from this deter- 

 mined huntsman and his killing pack, which escapes 

 I attributed to my good luck in having been hunted 

 by them on bad scenting days, and also in taking 

 refuge in drains. Learning that many of my friends 

 had been killed by them, I was induced to move 

 into Roxburghshire, the country hunted by the 

 Duke of Buccleuch's hounds, and adjoining the 

 two hunts before described to you. There I had 

 not been long before I was found in a small covert 

 by the Duke's pack, as Wilhamson the huntsman ^ 

 calls it, though he seems to do just what he likes 

 with it. Be that as it may, he knew pretty well 

 where to find me, and it was done in a few minutes. 

 The hills form a part of the country that he sur- 

 passes most men in riding across ; and after running 

 over them for some time towards the Cheviots, the 

 blue tops of which seemed at the time to be higlier 



1 Williamson was pensioned off in 186.5 and died a year or two later. 

 Shore, who succeeded him, still carries the horn. — Ed. 



