1871 — i88i. 77 



impetuosity of the ragtag and bobtail who come out 

 for a lark." 



By degrees things settled down, but the sport was 

 not of the best. The old hounds, or "mad pack," 

 were still kept separate from each other, except when 

 actually out hunting,until the 25th of September, when, 

 on a fearfully stormy night, they were put together into 

 kennel, though of course apart from the new pack. 

 Whether from this or some other cause the rabies 

 broke out again in October, though in the case of one 

 hound only. The sufferer was at once destroyed. But 

 there was another case in December, and three more 

 at the beginning of January, two of them being of 

 hounds belonging to the new pack, which, being not 

 very highly valued, were placed with the "old mad 

 'uns " as an experiment. There was now nothing to be 

 done except to destroy the whole of the old pack, which 

 was accordingly done on the 2 ist of January, 1 879. Thus 

 was great part of the work of five-and-twenty years 

 undone, and all the trouble and expense incurred to 

 bring the pack to perfection was lost. " It was a bitter 

 pill to swallow," writes Mr. Bisset curtly, "but there 

 was no help for it." It says much for his perseverance 

 that he should not have abandoned the work in despair ; 

 but it was not Mr. Bisset' s habit to leave things unac- 



