THE HAUNTED HUNT 



' Get all round it,' he said, ' and hold him up like a cub.' 

 I think it had dawned upon all of us by this time that the 

 man was insane, so, thinking it best to humour him, we 

 spread ourselves out round the Whin. 



" However, you know what a wild, straggling place it 

 is, even now ; and we were not nearly numerous enough 

 to invest every corner of it, especially with a bold, enter- 

 prising customer like the grey fox inside. And sure 

 enough, hounds were barely in when he broke at the far 

 end and went away like a greyhound. 



" Nunn came tearing out to the hallo, black in the face 

 with passion, and blowing the gone-away note as if he 

 would burst his lips. The forty-seven couple swept out 

 like a great breaking wave and opened on the line with 

 a crash of music that I have never heard the like of. I 

 could hear old Marksman throwing his tongue like an 

 organ above them all, and Nunn's beautiful voice blas- 

 pheming and cheering them on. 



" I can shut my eyes and think I see him now, with his 

 eyes glaring out of his ape face with madness. Driving 

 his horse along and ' forrarding ' to the hounds, he never 

 seemed to realise that there was a bank just in front of 

 him, and was within two strides of it when he awoke to 

 his danger. He tried to collect his horse, but the impetus 

 was too great ; the horse went into it like a shot from a 

 gun, turned a complete somersault, and came down on 

 the other side with a thud that could have been heard 

 fields away. When we got over, there were two things 

 to be done at once : to send for a gun to finish the horse, 

 and the whips after the hounds to stop them if possible. 

 One look at Nunn as we turned him over was enough. 

 The full weight of the horse must have come on his head 



