Accursed animal, should he then
defy us? Vile robber, his hour was come!
Ah, it is a great feeling, this feeling of sport, my friends,
this desire to trample the fox under the hoofs of your horse. I
have made the fox chase with the English. I have also, as I may
tell you some day, fought the box-fight with the Bustler, of
Bristol. And I say to you that this sport is a wonderful
thing--full of interest as well as madness.
The farther we went the faster galloped my horse, and soon there
were but three men as near the dogs as I was.
All thought of fear of discovery had vanished. My brain
throbbed, my blood ran hot--only one thing upon earth seemed
worth living for, and that was to overtake this infernal fox. I
passed one of the horsemen--a Hussar like myself. There were
only two in front of me now: the one in a black coat, the other
the blue artilleryman whom I had seen at the inn. His grey
whiskers streamed in the wind, but he rode magnificently. For a
mile or more we kept in this order, and then, as we galloped up a
steep slope, my lighter weight brought me to the front.
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