A CONTINUOUS PERFORMANCE. 



HERB. 



One day in early fall, a few years ago, I 

 had to attend the county court, which was 

 held about 12 miles from my home. Leav- 

 ing the house about 7 o'clock, I met a few 

 gentlemen who were bound for the court 

 house also. Seven of my hounds had fol- 

 lowed me, though I had no idea of a hunt; 

 but when about half way to our destina- 

 tion, Black, who had a very cold nose, 

 made a dash of 100 yards or so up the 

 road and opened. The other dogs rushed 

 after him, but could not get scent. For the 

 next mile or so they repeated this per- 

 formance several times. We supposed some 

 one had gone on before us with a cur, and 

 it was he they smelt, but on reaching an 

 old path that turned down into the woods, 

 Colonel, who was 1 short distance ahead 

 of the other dogs, threw up his head and 

 dashed down the path, opening at every 

 jump. As the last dog disappeared in the 

 brush, out jumped a red fox, about 200 

 yards farther up the road. We stood still 

 until the pack came out into the road and 

 then started on. The fox kept to the road 

 for nearly a mile, and then turned toward 

 the river, but on reaching the low grounds 

 saw he could not make it, so kept to the 

 bluffs. He was running parallel to the 

 road on which we were riding, and we 

 could see him as he crossed the little clear- 

 ings between the hills. As he went into 

 the bushes on one side of them, Colonel 

 came out on the other. The other dogs 

 were quite a distance behind. At the turn 

 of the road about 2 miles from the court 

 house, the fox came into the road, and 

 Colonel, who was then within 50 yards of 

 him, caught him before he had gone 50 

 yards more. 



The rest of the pack were then nearly 

 half a mile behind and had "bothered;" 

 but while I was tailing the fox they broke 

 out afresh. Colonel was still mouthing the 

 fox when I heard Uncle Billy, one of the 

 gentlemen who was coming up, shout: 



"Look behind you!" 



I turned and saw a large gray fox stand- 

 ing within 15 feet of me. His head was 

 turned away, and he was. listening to the 

 pack. Colonel saw him at the same mo- 

 ment I did, and made a spring for him, but 

 I threw myself on him as he jumped past 

 me, and we had a rough and tumble all 

 over the road. I managed to hold him 

 until the other dogs came up, which gave 

 the fox about 3 minutes' advantage. I sup- 

 pose he had been started up by the noise 

 but had crept off in the wrong direction. 

 The pack dashed up the road to the court 

 house. As we came in sight we saw a 

 large crowd of men running about for 

 their horses, while others followed the 

 pack on foot. Old Judge B. was standing 

 on the steps and snouting as loud as he 

 could: f ,( 



"Sing to him, puppies, sing to him!" 



The fox had run straight through the 

 court house yard, crossed the road and 

 was going through a large field, making 

 for a piece of timber a mile away. I made 

 a cut down through the field, but found my" 

 way barred by a barbed wire fence, when 

 nearly up to the crowd. I dismounted, put 

 my saddle blanket on the top wire, and 

 over that my horse took the fence. The 

 dogs were almost on the fox as he en- 

 tered the pines, and as I reached the edge, 

 I heard him squeal as they tore him. 



Taking him up I walked out to the 

 crowd who had followed and we started 

 back to tne court house. When about half 

 way through the field one of the crowd 

 shouted, 



"Listen!" 



We all stopped and as we listened we 

 heard that call so dear to the hunter's heart, 

 "Hark, hark! Hark! Hark! Hark, here!" 

 floating down through the pines. What 

 could it mean, was asked. I hushed the 

 dogs to the man who was calling, and we 

 rode back to the pines. Going a short dis- 

 tance in among them, we heard some one 

 calling, 



"Star, dogs, star!" 



A moment later Rattler opened and they 

 were off on a hot scent. We rode up to a 

 small clearing, where we found a man who 

 said he had seen a gray fox cross the clear- 

 ing just as the pack had stopped tongning 

 down in the pines, and he supposed they 

 had lost the quarry. As we stood there the 

 fox came back and for about an hour kept 

 doubling around the field, making a fine 

 run. At last, as 1 was standing in a path, 

 I saw the fox dash across it with the whole 

 pack within 30 yards of him, and a moment 

 later I heard them treeing. I rode over 

 and found he had run up a leaning oak 

 and there he sat in the first crotch, smil- 

 ing down on the pack, some of which 

 were trying to climb the tree and the 

 others to gnaw it down. 



In a few minutes it seemed to me every 

 man in the county was at that tree. I do not 

 think there was a man remaining at the 

 court house. After awhile we decided to 

 take the dogs off, make the fox jump out, 

 and give him a start of V 2 hour before put- 

 ting the dogs on his trail. As they would 

 come quickly at my call I was to remain 

 and drive the fox out, so, taking the dogs, 

 the crowd went off a quarter of a mile. 

 After they had gone I climbed the tree and 

 when within 5 feet of him the gray lit out. 

 As he hit the ground I heard Forest's voice 

 and out of the bushes he jumped. He had 

 broken away from the man who held him 

 and had sneaked back just in time to catch 

 the fox before he had gone 100 steps. That 

 ended the hunt, so we returned to the 

 court house where the scepter of justice 

 resumed its sway. It had taken just 4 

 hours to catch the 3 foxes. 



