178 A SPORTING PARADISE 



back, the judge himself rode into the thicket 

 near me and loosened the track-hounds to let 

 them find the wolves' trail. The big dogs also 

 were uncoupled and allowed to go in with the 

 hounds. Their power of scent was very poor, 

 but they were sure to be guided aright by the 

 baying of the hounds, and their presence would 

 give confidence to the latter and make them 

 ready to rout the wolves out of the thicket, 

 which they would probably have shrunk from 

 doing alone. 



" There was a moment's pause of expectation 

 after the judge entered the thicket with the 

 hounds. We sat motionless on our horses, 

 eagerly looking through the keen fresh morning 

 air. Then a clamorous baying from the thicket 

 in which both horseman and dogs had dis- 

 appeared showed that the hounds had struck 

 the trail of their quarry and we were running 

 on a hot scent. For a couple of minutes we 

 could not be quite certain which side the game 

 was going to break. The hounds ran zigzag 

 through the bush, as we could tell by their 

 baying, and once some yelping and a great row 

 showed that they had come closer than they had 

 expected upon at least one of the wolves. 



