140 



SECTION II. 



HOUNDS, GUN DOGS, AND OTHER SPORTING 



BREEDS. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



THE BLOODHOUND. 



BY HOWARD IIANDLEY SPICER. 



" And hark ! and Iiark ! the dccp-inoiithcd bark 

 Comes nigher still, and nigher ! 

 Bursts on the path a dark Bloodhound, 

 His tawnv muzzle tracked the ground, 

 And his red eye shot fire." 



— "The Lay of the Last Mixstrel." 



THE Bloodhound was much used in 

 olden times in hunting and in tiie 

 pursuit of fugitives ; two services for 

 which his remarkable acuteness of smell, his 

 abihty to keep to the particular scent on 

 which he is first laid, and the intelligence 

 and pertinacity with which he follows up 

 the trail, admirably fit hmi. The use and 

 employment of these dogs date back into 

 remote antiquity. We have it on the 

 authority of Strabo that they were used 

 against the Gauls, and we have certain 

 knowledge that they were employed not 

 only in the frequent feuds of the Scottish 

 clans, and in the continuous border forays 

 of those days, but also during the evei- 

 recurring hostilities between England and 

 Scotland. 



Wallace and Bruce were frequently in 

 danger from the Sleuth-hound, as it was 

 then called, and many thrilling tales are 

 told of their repeated escapes, and the 

 " wily turns " by which the hound was 

 thrown off the scent. Barbour tells how 

 on one occasion the King waded a bow- 

 shot down a brook and climbed a tree which 

 overhung the water. The poet well de- 

 scribes " the wavering of the Sleuth-hound 

 to and fra," when it was thrown off the 



scent by the King's stratagem. Blind Harry 

 the Minstrel describes how Wallace, after 

 being worsted in a short skirmish, sought 

 safetv in flight, closely pursued by the 

 English with a Border Bloodhound : 



" In Gelderland, there was that bratchet bred 

 Siker of scent to follow them that fled : 

 So was she used in Eske and Liddlesdail, 

 While she gat blood no fleeing might avail." 



To spill blood was the sure way to end the 

 pursuit. The poet states that on this occa- 

 sion \\'allace was accompanied by an Irish- 

 man named Fawden or Fadzean, who after 

 a while refused to proceed farther on the 

 plea of fatigue. It was in ^•ain that \A'allace 

 endeavoured to urge him on. Promises 

 and threats were alike useless ; carry 

 lum he could not ; to lea\-e him to betray 

 his whereabouts was equally impossible ; 

 so, yielding to the necessity of his hazardous 

 condition, he struck off the fellow's head. 

 Later, when the pursuers reached the scene 

 of the tragedy, they found their dog by the 

 dead body. 



" The sleuth stopped at Fawden, still she 

 stood. 

 Nor farther would fra time she fund the 

 blood." 



