THOUGHTS UPON HUNTING. 315 



Some years ago, my Iiounds running a fox across an 

 open country in a thick fog, the fox scarcely our of view, 

 three of the leading hounds disappeared all of a sudden ;- 

 and the whipper-in, luckily, was near enough to see it 

 happen. They fell into a dry well, near a hundred feet 

 deep : they and the fox remained there together till the 

 next day, when, with the greatest difficulty, we got them all 

 four out. 



Another time, having run a fox a burst of an hour 

 and a quarter (the severest 1 ever remember), the hounds 

 at last got up to him by the side of a river, where he had 

 stayed for tl^iem. One hound seized him as he was swim- 

 ming across, and they both went down together : the 

 hound came up again, but the fox appeared no more. 

 By means of a boat and a long pole, we got the fox out. 

 Had he not been seen to sink, he would hardly have been 

 iried for under water ; and, without doubt, we should have 

 wondered what had become of him. 



Now we are in the chapter of accidents, I must men- 

 • fion another, that lately happened to me on crossing a 



T t 



