302 
LETTERS FROM ALABAMA. 
Eeynard has all the art and "cunning that cha-^ 
racterise the subtle brotherhood elsewhere; and 
many an ingenious shift has he to baffle the hounds 
and secure a whole skin. A common trick with 
him is to run up the trunk of some sloping tree 
in the forest, and leap off as far as possible, to 
break the scent. Sometimes he will run along 
the top rail of the fence for a hundred yards or 
more, and creep round with a circuit to his former 
track, when the dogs are past. 
The report which was given me a day or two 
since (I am not myself a hunter) of what was 
considered a good run, may serve as a fair sample 
of the sport — >if I do not spoil the effect by my 
untechnical mode of describing it. The trail was 
found in a thicket, and the hounds being set on 
it, pursued it through the cotton and stubble- 
fields (the crops of the former being now all 
gathered), till they roused Eeynard in a marshy 
thicket. The dogs were now open-mouthed ; the 
fox doubles, and away in full sight across a pas- 
ture field and waste-ground for half a mile to 
some tangled wood. The horsemen dash on 
through this, with characteristic impetuosity, and 
presently break out into the tall forest. The var- 
mint” is discovered stealing along by a fence; 
at length, hard pressed, he runs up a tree, and 
turns at bay, with snarl, and snap, and bared 
teeth. His hour seemed come, but it was de- 
termined to give him another chance ; the hounds 
were accordingly called off; and, after another 
half-hour’s run, he was killed in a thicket, and 
I have the honour of possessing his brush. 
