19i FIELD AND FERN. 



the Doctor, " we had best draw on,^ and on Ave went 

 once more. 



Mr. Edward Maxwell was with ns now, from Teviot 

 Bank, and in the full spirit of the thing, with two 

 hunters out, a grey, and Flibberty Gibbet, the winner 

 of a Berwickshire steeple-chase. The mounted field 

 had swelled to seventy- six, and very disgusted Will 

 Williamson was when we told him about it that after- 

 noon, and how, of course, we all looked out for him 

 to drop on us through the Minto Woods, on The 

 Kaffir. He would not have known what to make of 

 it, as the river was fearfully low, and the Doctor 

 on his chesnut was hunting his hounds, or rather 

 watching them hunt (for he had trained them to do 

 it all themselves) ; while Walter waited down-stream, 

 to see if the varmint slipped over the shallows. Some 

 of the weavers got so anxious here that they tally- 

 hoed a water-hen ; but there was good hedging for 

 the mistake, as a few minutes after, the Doctor was 

 cheering "Old John Peel.'' ''That's the right stuff r 

 said little Sandy, as the old dog spoke again; and 

 then Ringwood, the Palmerston of the pack, came 

 fairly to the front, took the water at Denholme 

 Cauld, and swam the drag right down the pool. This 

 was a very finished bit of hunting, and the foxhunters 

 sat down in their saddles quite enraptured, as the 

 old dog leant in his stroke from side to side, throwing 

 his deep bass tongue as the air-bells, with the rich 

 hot scent in them, floated down to him. Then a 

 loud tally-ho was heard at the weir, and the wild 



