90 NOTES BY THE WAY. 



as unerringly as fate. It seemed as if the fox must 

 have sowed himself broadcast as he went along, and 

 that his scent was so rank and heavy that it settled 

 in the hollows and clung tenaciously to the bushes 

 and crevices in the fence. I thought I ought to have 

 caught a remnant of it as I passed that way some 

 minutes later, but I did not. But I suppose it was 

 rsot that the light-footed fox so impressed himself 

 upon the ground he ran over, but that the sense of 

 the hound was so keen. To her sensitive nose these 

 tracks steamed like hot cakes, and they would not 

 have cooled off so as to be undistinguishable for sev- 

 eral hours. For the time being she had but one 

 sense : her whole soul was concentrated in her nose. 



It is amusing when the hunter starts out of a win- 

 ter morning to see his hound probe the old tracks to 

 determiue how recent they are. He sinks his nose 

 down deep in the snow so as to exclude the air from 

 above, then draws a long full breath, giving some- 

 times an audible snort. If there remains the least 

 effluvium of the fox the hound will detect it. If it be 

 very slight it only sets his tail wagging ; if it be 

 strong it unloosens his tongue. 



Such things remind one of the waste, the friction 

 that is going on all about us, even when the wheels of 

 life run the most smoothly. A fox cannot trip along 

 the top of a stone wall so lightly but that he will leave 

 enough of himself to betray his course to the hound 

 for hours afterward. When the boys play " hare and 

 hounds " the hare scatters bits of paper to give a clew 

 to the pursuers, but he scatters himself much more 

 freely if only our sight and scent were sharp enough 

 to detect the fragments. Even the fish leave a traii 

 in the water, and it is said the otter will pursue them 



