The Germans gained ground and occupied the kennels.
When the hounds returned from their chase and challenged the
intruders they were shot down one by one.

Such is the lore I had acquired when the motor came for me; whereupon,
taking a few sandwiches to sustain me until supper time, I set forth
through the night by Ford, for the station at The Plains.

* * * * *

The publication of the larger part of the foregoing chapter on fox
hunting, in "Collier's Weekly," brought me a number of letters
containing hunting anecdotes.

Mr. J.R. Smith of Martinsville, Virginia, calls my attention to marked
difference in character between the red fox and the gray. The red fox,
he says, depends upon his legs to elude the hounds, and will sometimes
lead the hunt twenty-five miles from the place where he gets up, but the
gray fox depends on cunning, and is more prone to run a few miles and
"tack."

Mr. Smith tells the following story illustrative of the gray fox's
amazing artfulness:

"We had started a fox on three different occasions," he writes, "running
him a warm chase for about four miles and losing him every time in a
sheep pasture. Finally we stationed a servant in that pasture to see
what became of the fox. We started him again and he took the same route
to the pasture. There the mystery was solved. The fox jumped on the back
of a large ram, which, in fright, ran off about half a mile. The fox
then jumped off and continued his run. When the hounds came up we urged
them on to the point where the fox dismounted, and soon had his brush."

* * * * *

Another correspondent calls my attention to the fact that, in Virginia,
hunting is not merely the sport of the rich, but that the farmers are
enthusiastic members of the field--sometimes at the expense of their
cattle and crops. He relates the following story illustrative of the
point of view of the sporting Virginia farmer:

"A man from the Department of Agriculture came down into our section to
look over farms and give advice to farmers. He went to see one farmer
in my county and found that he had absolutely nothing growing, and that
his livestock consisted of three hunters and thirty-two couples of
hounds. The agricultural expert was scandalized. He told the farmer he
ought to begin at once to raise hogs. 'You can feed them what you feed
the dogs,' he said, 'and have good meat for your family aside from wh