OLD FRIENDS. 



183 



needed — for has it not been a i\ist-run race every yard of 

 the way ? A few seconds' rest will suffice us ; and the 

 struggle will commence again. Alas, no ! An open 

 drain explains the sudden check ; and our brief bright 

 scurry is at an end. 



Later in the day let me take you on to the immortal 

 Coplow, and presume that, having seen the gorse on its 









.f; 





" HITTING OFF A BETTER SPOT ON THE EIGHT." 



side drawn blank, you have dawdled jjast the House in 

 place of accompanying the hounds over the summit. 

 Possibly, in the weakness of a nature to which the 

 restricting hand of gout (the most impartial as he is the 

 most severe of whippers-in) has as yet scarcely appealed, 

 you may have found yourself blocked for one second by. 

 the sherry-tray that " stops the way " as if brought by 

 magic. Of a sudden there is a murmur, breaking into a 

 shout "They're away!" Away! Where V They may 

 have left in any direction for aught we can learn from 



