The hounds, as we said before, were desperately wild; but at length, by dint of coaxing and cracking, and whooping and hallooing, they got some ten couples out of the five-and-twenty gathered together, and Mr. Watchorn, putting himself at their head, trotted briskly on, blowing most lustily, in the hopes that the rest would follow.  So he clattered along the avenue, formed between rows of sombre-headed firs and sweeping spruce, out of which whirred clouds of pheasants, and scuttling rabbits, and stupid hares kept crossing and recrossing, to the derangement of Mr. Watchorn’s temper, and the detriment of the unsteady pack.  Squeak, squeak, squeal sounded right and left, followed sometimes by the heavy retributive hand of Justice on the offenders’ hides, and sometimes by the snarl, snap, and worry of a couple of hounds contending for the prey.  Twang, twang, twang, still went the horn; and when the huntsman reached the unicorn-crested gates, between tea-caddy looking lodges, he found himself in possession of a clear majority of his unsizable pack.  Some were rather bloody to be sure, and a few carried scraps of game, which fastidious masters would as soon have seen them without; but neither Sir Harry nor his huntsman cared about appearances.

On clearing the lodges, and passing about a quarter of a mile on the Hardington road, hedge-rows ceased, and they came upon Farleyfair Downs, across which Mr. Watchorn now struck, making for a square plantation, near the first hill-top, where it had been arranged the bag-fox should be shook.  It was a fine day, rather brighter perhaps, than sportsmen like, and there was a crispness in the air indicative of frost, but then there is generally a burning scent just before one.  So thought Mr. Watchorn, as he turned his feverish face up to the bright, blue sky, imbibing the fine fresh air of the wide-extending downs, instead of the stale tobacco smoke of the fetid beer-shop.  As he trotted over the springy sward, up the gently rising ground, he rose in his stirrups; and, laying hold of his horse’s mane, turned to survey the long-drawn, lagging field behind.

‘You’ll have to look sharp, my hearties,’ said he to himself, as he ran them over in his eye, and thought there might be twenty or five-and-twenty horsemen; ‘you’ll have to look sharp, my hearties,’ said he, ’if you mean to get away, for Wily Tom has his hat on the ground, which shows he has put him down, and if he’s the sort of gem’man I expect he’ll not be long in cover.’

So saying, he resumed his seat in the saddle, and easing his horse, endeavoured, by sundry dog noises—­such as, ‘Yooi doit, Ravager!’ ’Gently, Paragon!’ ’Here again.  Mercury!’—­to restrain the ardour of the leading hounds, so as to let the rebellious tail ones up and go into cover with something like a body.  This was rather a difficult task to accomplish, for those with him being light, and consequently anxious to be doing and ready for riot, were difficult to restrain from dashing forward; while those that had taken their diversion and refreshment among the game, were easy whether they did anything more or not.