286 THE SPORT OF KINGS 



hedge he will make good his start, and it is by no 

 means improbable that he will save his brush by 

 going to ground in some earth within his know- 

 ledge, which he has passed earlier in the run. 

 Some of the best runs I have seen during a pretty 

 lengthy experience have been with the woodland 

 foxes, and one in particular from a wood several 

 hundreds of acres in extent occurs to my memory. 

 Immediately the fox was found he made a ring 

 round one corner of the wood, and a grand sight 

 it was to see how, by the exercise of his cunning, 

 he kept increasing the distance between himself 

 and his pursuers, till at last when he broke he had 

 fully a couple of fields the best of the start. Then 

 he ran straight through another wood some four 

 miles off, and finally was killed after a good run 

 of an hour and a quarter, an eight-mile point. As 

 for the riding part of it — well, dirty coats had 

 plenty to say about that. 



