SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING!. 317 



press on at a galling pace, the power and condition 

 of the foxhounds gaining rapid advantage over the 

 less robust frame of the fox. Still on he toils with 

 slackening speed, but not beaten yet. 



" Yonder he goes, master/' cried Jem, " over the 

 brow of that second field to your left. Shall I get 

 forward, and cut him off from the hill." 



" Your horse could'nt do it if you were to try, Jem ; 

 but there's no occasion. He finds he cannot reach 

 them, and now turns down wind again. Ten minutes 

 more, and his race is run. The hounds shall kill 

 him fairly by themselves, and how can they be 

 doing better? Scoring and screaming at such a 

 time won't mend matters, but make them worse." 



When reaching the rising ground where Jem had 

 viewed the fox, a few fields below them lay Oakwood, 

 containing about fifty acres. 



" Ah ! that covert shelters him for a minute or 

 two," exclaimed Headman. " Now, Jem, to the 

 further corner, if your horse can do it ; and mind we 

 don't change, although I don't think it likely, as our 

 neighbours were here yesterday, and of course the 

 earths arn't unstopped yet." 



Jem cuts corners to his position, taking advantage 

 of every open gate ; and to tell the truth his horse, 

 Hardcastle, had, like the old fox they were pur- 

 suing, very litlle galloping power left in him. 



"Well, old fellow," said Jem, jumping off the 

 saddle when he reached the appointed place, "just 

 you take a nibble at the grass while I mount this 

 tree. I knows you won't run away, and if you do, 

 I can run into that old varmint on my ten toes. 



