The Hunting Year 



at that end of it on which the fox did not go 

 away. So hounds had the great advantage of 

 getting plenty of time to settle down. For even 

 if the pace is not great, when they get a 

 long field's start, they take some catching when 

 the ground is deep, if they keep running 

 on. 



They did not run very fast now, but they 

 kept moving, and they had been running for 

 at least twenty minutes before there was any 

 danger of their being over-ridden again. Then 

 certainly an opportunity seemed about to pre- 

 sent itself. A couple of ploughed fields, much 

 of them under water, brought hounds to their 

 noses, and, though they did not check, they 

 could only just pick out the line. This hap- 

 pened at a very critical time, for the " crowd " 

 had just got on terms — on good terms — with 

 hounds again, and their bad start made them 

 eager, over eager in fact. 



In a word, matters were looking none too 



well, when, happily, hounds hunted down to 



the Sherston Brook, flung themselves into it, 



and, picking up the line on the grass on the 



128 



