112 THE LIFE OF A FOX.

and he rated or spoke to them, they would only
bay at him till he was again captured, placed
in a bag, and carried home again.

It rarely happened that not the master nor
huntsman, nor the reverend friend who called
himself first whipper-in, were up at the time,
as they were generally mounted on thorough-
bred horses, which they well knew how to ride.
For myself, it is a well-known fact, that I
have been turned out and hunted by these
hounds eighteen times, though I have striven
hard to get away. On no occasion was I in-
jured by the hounds, and I must do my possessor
justice by stating that he thoroughly under-
stands the nature of all the animals that he had
to manage.

The extraordinary distance which we ran,
when. hunted by these hounds, may be attributed
to our perfect ignorance of the country where
we were turned out, which also accounts for
our not oftener running at once to the imprac-
ticable parts which abound here, and in which

no horses could have followed the hounds. In