A VARIED CHASE. 91 



and that way, according to the run of the animal, 

 whatever it was, they were on — and then as speed 

 and limb, energy and muscle began to tell, the cry 

 lengthened out into a drawling serpentine expression ; 

 and but for the difference of the lighter English fox- 

 hound tongue I should have been puzzled to have 

 known which was head or tail. 



Many hundred yards within the wood the hounds 

 went by ; so turning up the road abreast of them, I 

 rounded the corner of the high copse into a young 

 spring : when, ascertaining that they were off for 

 another quarter of the forest, my horn gave the signal 

 that they were " away," and I ran on by ear. For hours 

 I lost sight of my companions, save when a glimpse 

 of a figure could be caught as it crossed some distant 

 pathway to the right or left of me ; and as I turned 

 in all directions to keep the wind of the cry, and 

 crossed through the midst of several young springs, I 

 came on the usings of litters of cub foxes, of wolves, 

 and of boars, as well as on the lairs of roe. 



And now became evident that which I had predicted 

 when I saw such ill-matched and uneven creatures 

 together. The able English foxhounds were a mile 

 ahead, and the old French hounds, shifty and skirting, 

 babbling, heel-running, and dodging in every con- 

 ceivable manner. In one of the rides I heard the cry 



