326 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 



Headman; and with a few notes from his horn, the 

 pack were quickly at his horse's heels. " Ah ! there 

 he is, sir, and no mistake," as the hounds dashed 

 eagerly into the brake. " They'll have him up and 

 out in a minute;" and so they did; but being 

 headed on all sides save one, that nearest the river, 

 he broke away at the bottom of the brake into the 

 big wood first drawn, where he tried the earths, and 

 then essayed an escapade at the top of the covert 

 for another wood about two miles distant. The 

 gentlemen, however, having by cutting corners got 

 to this point before him, he was, of course, headed 

 back, and another circuit under hazel and oak trees 

 the result ; but there was no pressure upon him, 

 hounds hunting, and sometimes barely owning the 

 scent. 



"Ah, Will," exclaimed John Staveley, "just as I 

 thought. No prospect of doing anything on such a 

 day as this. I think I shall go home and do a bit 

 of farming." 



" Stop awhile longer, sir ; there's no saying how 

 things may alter ; and then perhaps we may have a 

 bit of luck at last, when nobody expects it." 



" You could not handle a bad fox with everything 

 against you, much less a good one." 



" The good one for choice, sir ; and if the 

 hounds cannot hold to the line, I suppose I 

 must." 



" Then you really believe that this fox, evidently 

 bent on travelling, is to be handled with a scent like 

 this?" 



" We shall do our best, sir, to accomplish that end." 



