THE HAUNTED HUNT 11 



" Wasting no time, I followed Pride of Tyrone's trail. 

 For the greater part of the way it was plain enough, and 

 I was able to travel at a good pace ; but in places, espe- 

 cially on the Downs and higher-lying grass lands, it was 

 only with the greatest difficulty that I could find anything 

 to guide me at all. 



" The tracks went straight over Priestland Park and 

 Shepley Down to just below Hindholt, where the fox had 

 evidently been headed and had swung left-handed along 

 Kelton Bottom. I saw the tracks of the hounds in the 

 soft ground there, and knew that Pride of Tyrone was 

 still with them. 



" Coming up by Checkley on to the high land again 

 the line lay to the right over Anyman's Down to Cockover 

 Wood, where the hoof-prints were a puzzle that took me 

 some time to unravel. From what I could make of it, 

 Pride of Tyrone had galloped into the wood, had turned 

 back half-way down the ride, had walked and trotted back, 

 standing still more than once, and had broken into a 

 gallop again before leaving the wood by the way he had 

 entered it, going away in the direction of Swingstone. 



" In another hour or so it would be too dark to see any 

 tracks at all, and as I seemed to be no nearer to Pride of 

 Tyrone than when I started, my chance of catching him 

 before nightfall appeared remote in the extreme; but I 

 was determined to persevere while I could, and kept 

 plodding along on the trail. 



" From Swingstone it led right on by High Firs and 

 Kyte Common, as straight as a die past Ridgeweather 

 Hill, and on to the Teal Valley. Sinking the valley, I 

 followed it on through Frogbere plantations and across 

 the water-meadows straight to the Teal. 



