1878—79.] CUB HUNTING. 257 



from a large open cistern in the garden— and into this moist 

 asyhim he had crept. It wouhl he easy enough to dislodge him 

 with a terrier ; and a terrier was quickly hrought. The source 

 of the drain was plainly visihle ahout five feet down the cistern, 

 and at tlie water's edge. But how to reach it, to put tlie terrier 

 in ? The tank was deep enough to drown a giraffe. The pro- 

 ceedings came to a standstill, and the party looked hlank— till 

 the one with the longest legs was moved with happy inspira- 

 tion. Divesting himself of hat and watch and purse, he lent 

 one lengthy limb to Firr, the other to Will (the second whip) ; 

 then, gripping the terrier by the tail, he was lowered head first 

 into the pit. As one of the gardeners described it raptm-ously, 

 " Jack went in Avith his hacks up ; the fox slipped out at the 

 other end;" the bystanders yelled their loudest; away burst 

 the hounds ; and the diver was nearly dropped into the deep 

 dark water in the confusion. Yet, wet and tired as the fox 

 must have been, he reached, first the shrubberies, then the 

 covert, in safety — and there we were as badly off as ever. Two 

 or three foxes, beat and draggled, crept round the little gorse — : 

 the pack mad to get blood, but the scent not strong enough to 

 help them to it. It was a matter no less of wonderment than of 

 pleasure when, in the failing light of 4.30, a fox (strongly 

 recommended by witnesses as the same who had gone before) 

 broke again towards the Hall. And this time he sought no 

 shelter from shrubbery, library, or cistern; but, bearing up 

 toward Hungerton embarked on to the Quenb}^ pastures. The 

 skeleton field turned in from the Quenby bridle-road to find 

 themselves bound to a most uncompromising line of big fences 

 and stiff new timber. But, whether they liked it or not, the}' 

 had to ride ; for hounds were rapidly leaving them. So they 

 made the best of their way, as the pack swept round at length 

 to the little brook that runs between Lowesby and Baggrave. 

 Fii-r's horse slipped right through the low rail bordering it, 

 and rolled his rider comj^letely under water. And this, on tlie 

 top of his morning fall, and added to a wet ride home — twelve 

 miles at "hound-pace" on a bitter cold night — will fully 



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