THOUGHTS UPON HUNTING. Ill 



balloo'd till he was almost hoarse, and got to the man as 

 quickly as he could : the man still kept hallooing; and, as 

 the hounds got near him, " Here" said he — " btre — here the 

 " fox f's gone." — * Is he far before us ?' cried the hunts- 

 man — ' How long ago was it that you saw him ?' — " No 

 " master, 1 have not seen him ; but / smelt biiii here this 

 *' morning, when I came to serve my sheep." 



Another instance was thisi — We were trying with some 

 deer-hounds for an out-lying stag, when we saw a fellow 

 running towards us in his shirt : we immediately concluded 

 that we should hear some news of the stag, and set out joy- 

 fully to meet him. Our first question was, If he had seen 

 the stag? — "No, Sir, I have not seen him, hut my wife 

 *' dreamt as hoiu she sazv him f other nigjjt" 



Once a man halloo'd us back a mile, only to tell us that 

 tve zvere right before, and v/e lost the iox by it. 



A gentleman, seeing his hounds at fault, rode up to 

 a man at plough, and with great eagerness asked him, If 

 he had seen the fox. " The fox, Sir ?" — * Yes, d — n 

 ' you, the fox ! — did you never see a fox ?' — ** Pray, Sir, 



F f 



