66 EACECOUBSE AND COVERT SIDE. 



now be gratified, for — especially the few who 

 did not get well away through being in a bad 

 place, and so have something to make up — here 

 we go just as hard as horses can lay their legs to 

 the ground. Those who are not gluttons for 

 fencing, and who are willing to chance an 

 occasional rabbit hole, are in their glory, and it 

 is probable tha,t some of the horses, if not their 

 riders, find a check welcome when hounds throw 

 up in a hedgerow bounding a slip of covert. As 

 we crossed this stubble hares and rabbits scuttled 

 away in all dhections, for they were as plentiful 

 as sparrows in a barn-yard. Some of the hares 

 (Beacon Hill and other coursing grounds are 

 quite close) have thought it judicious to " lay 

 low " as Brer Eabbit puts it, and get up suddenly 

 almost under the feet of one's horse, and I saw 

 four rabbits having a race for safety — a hand- 

 kerchief would have covered the " field." 



Into a convenient hole the fox has certainly 

 slipped, and there is nothing for it but to go and 

 find another, or try to do so. " Try " it is. 

 Foxes are about, but we linger in vain hopes of 

 seeing one induced to quit his woodland retreats. 

 There is no scent, for we have noted that, where 

 we have seen the fox pass not a cou^^le of 

 minutes before, the hounds cannot speak to it. 

 Mounted figures winding down the hillside show 



