214 WHIP AND SPUR. 



of these fellows, rigged out with the cast-off 

 clothing of their betters, sported red coats, black 

 velvet caps, and leather leggings. One added to 

 all this gorgeousness the refinement of bare feet. 

 The hounds were taken into the cover, a 

 brambly, tangled wood near by, which had prob- 

 ably been planted and made a little wilderness 

 to serve as a cover for foxes. 



They soon found a fox, drove him to the open, 

 and followed him out of the wood with a whim- 

 pering sort of cry which was disappointing after 

 the notion that the " full ciy " of the books had 

 given, and which is heard in the very different 

 fox-hunting of our Southern woods. The run lay 

 up a steepish hill, several fields wide and across 

 an open country. One bold rider (not a light 

 one), mounted on a staving black horse, went to 

 the right of the cover, and made a splendid leap 

 up hill, over a stiff-looking hedge, and landed at 

 the tail of the pack. The " master " and his 

 assistants had got away with the hounds. The 

 rest of the field went to the left, waiting their 

 turns, through a farm-gate. Once through, some 



