60 
Beagles and Beagling 
uncertainty it seemed, for neither of the dogs was 
inclined to babble without cause. A moment later 
Belle broke out with a series of musical notes, which 
deepened as she became more sure, then suddenly 
it was a jumble of long drawn out musical sound. 
“Hark Bill, hark!” cried Charlie, but there was 
no need of the command, for Bill’s deep, rumbly 
voice soon joined in with that of his mate. Belle’s 
notes were deep, but clear and bell like, a real mezzo 
soprano, while Bill’s voice was baritone, and such 
music, as they drove through the briars! Both of 
us instinctively ran in different directions looking 
for a vantage point; as yet, neither had seen the 
rabbit or the dogs, but Charlie gave me the cue 
about the voices and I had no trouble in distinguish¬ 
ing between them. The dogs drove deeper into the 
briers, their voices sounding through those open 
spaces with a clarity that only such settings can 
supply. Down through the briars they came and 
what a medly of music! Suddenly there was a 
silence. Charlie, on a stump some rods from me, 
cried out: “They lost him!” but he had scarcely 
made the remark when the sonorous voice of Bill 
broke the silence and a moment later Belle harked 
in; again there was sweet music in the air and a 
moment later I saw bunny come out of the briers, 
within twenty feet of me, and go bounding down 
along the edge through the open woods. 
“Why don’t you shoot?” yelled Charlie, but I 
was intent upon watching the race and forgot all 
about the gun. Anyway, I would rather see a good 
race than kill the game in front of the dogs and so 
1 told Charlie, but just as the dogs came speeding 
