Tlie '' Good-hye'' Day. 187 



their onward progress through, the stunted and 

 prickly gorse. 



^Nearly an hour had elapsed; not a chal- 

 lenge had been given, not a tongue was 

 thrown; all — save when some complaining 

 hound got entangled amidst the labyrinth of 

 furze — all continued within the dense thorny 

 covert, silent as the grave. The forenoon was 

 passing rapidly away, the heat of the sun was 

 becoming momentarily more great, thereby, of 

 course, decreasing our chances of a run, even 

 should we be successful in a find; and al- 

 though the hounds were mute, a few croakers 

 began abeady to give tongue, and the face, or 

 rather faces, of the field became overclouded 

 with disappointment and " hope deferred." 



Not so our gallant and persevering chief, 

 spite of continued failures — whatever might 

 have been his reasons — ^he seemed convinced 

 that Stoke Down Gorse contained a fox; a 

 gallant one, and one destined to give him a 

 last splendid run. 



