"I will say that, though they be English; and though they be too fast
for fox, entirely, there never was sich dogs for deer"
"But how the deuce," I interrupted, "can hounds be too fast, if they
have bone and stanchness!"
"Stanchness be darned; they holes them!"
"No earthstoppers in these parts, Frank," cried Harry; "and as the
object of these gentlemen is not to hunt solely for the fun of the
thing, but to destroy a noxious varmint, they prefer a slow, sure,
deep-mouthed dog, that does not press too closely on Pug, but lets him
take his time about the coverts, till he comes into fair gunshot of
these hunters, who are lying perdu as he runs to get a crack at him."
"And pray," said I, "is this your method of proceeding?"
"You shall see, you shall see; come get to horse, or it will be late
before we get our breakfast, and I assure you I don't wish to lose
either that, or my day's quail-shooting. This hunt is merely for a
change, and to get something of an appetite for breakfast. Now, Tim, be
sure that every thing is ready by eight o'clock at the latest--we shall
be in by that time with a furious appetite."
Thus saying he mounted, without more delay, his favorite, the gray;
while I backed, nothing loth, the chestnut horse; and at the same time
to my vast astonishment, from under the long shed out rode the mighty
Tom, bestriding a tall powerful brown mare, showing a monstrous deal of
blood combined with no slight bone--equipped with a cavalry bridle, and
strange to say, without the universal martingal; he was rigged just as
usual, with the exception of a broad-brimmed hat in place of his fur
cap, and grasped in his right hand a heavy smooth-bored rifle, while
with the left he wheeled his mare, with a degree of active skill, which
I should certainly have looked for any where rather than in so vast a
mass of flesh as that which was exhibited by our worthy host.
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