206 FOX-HUXTING 



to him that he would jom the larger group ; so, with a 

 cruel dig of the spurs and an unnecessary cut with his 

 whip, he has set off to gallop down the fence just at the 

 very moment when the fox w^as about to cross it. Master 

 Johnny is not sensitive, but the ' talking to ' that is 

 administered to him when, all unconscious of the mis- 

 chief he has done, he smilingly gallops into the group 

 does bring a blush to his cheek. 



Meantime the chorus from the pack has swelled, and 

 died away. By what means the hounds have lost so hot 

 a scent it would be difficult to explain, unless the fox 

 returned on .his own line ; but so it is, till one of them 

 reaches the spot where the creature was about to break. 

 Here the chorus fills again ; and as luck will have it, 

 the mischief Johnny did in heading the fox is not irre- 

 parable, for while his enemies rush back a little way into 

 the covert, his nose once more pokes through the hedge. 

 Tommy, having a clear view through the trees, sees him 

 and involuntarily opens his mouth, a movement which 

 the whipper-in perceives, and he lifts up a warning finger, 

 for he fears that the boy is going to shout too soon ; but 

 Tommy had no such intention. Yes ! there he goes [ 

 With a wave of his brush, he bolts across the fields, 

 glides through the fence beyond, and his red body can 

 be traced against the darker earth of the ploughed 

 ground over which he is stealing, when Jack raises his 

 voice. Tommy cannot restrain himself : ' Tally-ho ! ' 

 he cries. ' Gone away ! ' cries the whip ; the hounds, 

 already on the line, crash through the fence, which 

 cracks with their weight, as they impetuously fling them- 

 selves on it almost in a body. The huntsman sounds a 

 final note on his horn, and puts it into the leather case 

 at his saddle-bow, as he jumps the fence and takes his 



