THE ATTACK ON WOLVES. 73 



when I saw but two horses tied to the bushes, and 

 two men seated on the banks smoking short pipes ; 

 and hung up fast by the head like rizzened haddocks, 

 or bunches of carrots, and all strung together on one 

 string, nose to nose, and with dejected sterns, were 

 two little lots of hounds, perhaps five couples in one 

 lot, and six or seven couples in the other, tied to two 

 trees. Having walked up to these creatures and 

 inspected their condition, I found some immensely 

 old, and so thin that edgeways you could hardly see 

 them ; and some so fat that they were less fitted for 

 wind and speed than a lady's plethoric lapdog. 

 Throughout the two lots, the same bad feet and legs 

 existed as in the instance of the French hounds in 

 the kennel at the chateau ; and I am perfectly 

 convinced, that not only is perfection in limb and 

 action neglected in the breeding of hounds in France, 

 but when growing, or lying idle during the cessation 

 of the hunting season, they are kept so confined 

 that their feet, from disease, get flat and out of shape. 



" Why, where are the whippers-in ? " I asked of 

 my friend. 



" Oh, we don't use them here," was the reply ; 

 '^ our woods are too large." 



" That is an odd reason," I thought. " Hounds 

 here must often divide ; and if a pack of nine hounds 



