A HUNTSMAN. 153 



When hounds throw up, Bill's recipe is to ask him- 

 self what he would have done if he had been a fox ; and 

 the manner in which he appears to enter into the 

 arguments and calculations of the cunning animal are 

 nothing short of marvellous. 



Beckford declares that a second-rate Huntsman and a 

 first-rate First Whip are more likely to afford sport than 

 if their measures of ability were reversed ; but I think 

 an acquaintance with Bill Heigh would have altered his 

 opinion. 



On two occasions Bill and his hounds lost the same 

 fox in the same place. The scent was hot as far as the 

 high road, across which hounds dashed at right angles 

 and threw up in the field beyond. Bill was puzzled, and 

 the second time cast all about in every direction with 

 the utmost patience and care before he would give up. 

 A third time we got away, evidently with our old friend, 

 and were taken over precisely the same line to the same 

 spot. But Bill had kept his attention fixed on Sweet- 

 heart, knowing that he could trust her implicitly ; and 

 she would acknowledge it no farther than the side of 

 the road to which we came first. This was just by a 

 pound, walled in except at its opening, facing the high 

 road, w^here was the railed entrance. To this corner, 

 between the tree and the wall, Sweetheart returned 

 twice. 



" He's gone along the top of the wall, sir," Bill 

 exclaimed. 



"I don't fancy so, really," Sir Henry answered. 



