FOX-HUNTING IN ENGLAND. 217 



the hunting-field and mounted as men rarely are 

 mounted out of England, all, horses as well as 

 men, eager and excited in the chase, flying over 

 hedge and ditch into the carriage-way and over 

 ditch and hedge into the higher field, beyond and 

 away, headlong after the hounds, every man for 

 himself, and every man for the front, and on 

 they went over another hedge, and out of sight. 

 In the thick of the flight were two ladies, rid- 

 ing as well and as boldly as the men, and two 

 men were brushing their hats in the road, their 

 empty saddles keeping well up with the run. 

 More than satisfied with this climax of my first 

 day's experience, I trotted out for home. The re- 

 sult of the run I never heard, and I leave its 

 description where I lost sight of it. A mile far- 

 ther on I did see a fagged-looking fox making 

 his rapid way across my road again, and sneak- 

 ing off under the hedge toward a thicket, and I 

 halted to listen to what sounded like the horn 

 of a huntsman at check over the hill to the 

 left ; but possibly the conclusion I drew was not 

 a correct one. 

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