414 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS 
In a southern foxchase there can be nothing more unortho- 
dox than such an expenditure of ammunition, for the hunters 
would have been somewhat dangerously furious, and the 
hounds themselves ready to tear in pieces the unlucky marks- 
man who should have dared to interpose between their heated 
ferocity and a legitimate consummation of the chase, in “the 
death!” The wild cat injures the dogs, though, so much, 
that after losing a few of the most valued leaders of the 
pack in the bloody death-struggle with this savagely formi- 
dable creature, the huntsmen soon learn to differ from our 
friend Dr. Bachman’s opinion concerning its courage, and 
become very cautious how they run the risk of having their 
dogs overtake it. They easily tell, from the cry of the 
hounds, when it is becoming exhausted, and has reached its 
short doublings; and, as by this time they have enjoyed the 
excitement of a long chase, they can very well afford to listen 
to the dictates of prudence in shooting it, as described above. 
The dogs used in a night hunt are not the full-blooded 
hounds of the chase above. A cross of the fox or stag-hound 
upon the fiercer, snapping, wire-haired cur, which seems to 
be peculiarly the dog of the negro, makes a far more swift, 
though not so long-winded or so sure a hunter; and, from its 
strength and activity, is considered a much better fighter 
than the aristocratic hound, which is owned solely by the 
master. Indeed, the half-breeds of this and various other 
crosses are almost exclusively used for the chase and destruc- 
tion of the carnivorous animals throughout this country—the 
game “‘full-bloods,” which, when heated by their long chases, 
habitually rush in, closing instantly with their quarry, when 
it has been brought to bay, suffer terribly when it turns out 
to be wild cat, panther or bear; and, if permitted to chase 
these animals, the pack is soon exterminated by them. 
It is curious to observe the instant change in the appear- 
ance of all dogs used in the chase, on striking the trail of 
any one of these animals, but more especially that of the 
