FOX-HUNTING. 27 



thrown upon his hands; and, if an M.P., of a 

 certain contest at the coming election. Where are 

 all these now ? Ask of the winds ! They are 

 vanished. His whole system is steeped in delight ; 

 there is not space in it for the absorption of an- 

 other sensation. Talk of opium ? of hashish ? they 

 cannot supply such voluptuous entrancement as a 

 run like this ! 



" Taking stock " again of his company, he is 

 rather glad to see (for he is not an utterly selfish 

 fellow) that the man on the right has also got 

 safely over the big brook, and is going well ; but 

 there is absolutely no one else in sight. It is clear 

 that unless a " check " of some duration occurs, 

 or the scent should die away, or the fox should 

 deviate from his hitherto straight course, these two 

 cannot be overtaken, or even approached. No such 

 calamity — for in this case it would be a calamity — 

 takes place ; and the hounds, now evincing that 

 peculiar savage eagerness which denotes the vin- 

 dictive mood known as ** running for blood," hold 



