wn would ride away quickly to his own country. He
would not have spoken to Mr. Fairlawn if he could have helped it. Mr.
Fairlawn was some miles away from his country. He must have given up the
day for lost had he simply gone away. But there was another covert a
mile off, and he thought that one of his hounds had "shown a line,"--or
said that he thought so.

Now, it is well known that you may follow a hunted fox through whatever
country he may take you to, if only your hounds are hunting him
continuously. And one hound for that purpose is as good as thirty, and
if a hound can only "show a line" he is held to be hunting. Mr. Fairlawn
was quite sure that one of his hounds had been showing a line, and had
been whipped off it by one of Mr. Harkaway's men. The man swore that he
had only been collecting his own hounds. On this plea Mr. Fairlawn
demanded to take his whole pack into Greasegate Wood,--the very covert
that Mr. Harkaway had been about to draw. "I'm d----d if you do!" said Mr.
Harkaway, standing, whip in hand, in the middle of the road, so as to
prevent the enemy's huntsman passing by with his hounds. It was
afterward declared that Mr. Harkaway had not been heard to curse and
swear for the last fifteen years. "I'm d----d if I don't!" said Mr.
Fairlawn, riding up to him. Mr. Harkaway was ten years the older man,
and looked as though he had much less of fighting power. But no one saw
him quail or give an inch. Those who watched his face declared that his
lips were white with rage and quivered with passion.

To tell the words which passed between them after that would require
Homer's pathos and Homer's imagination. The two old men scowled and
scolded at each other, and, had Mr. Fairlawn attempted to pass, Mr.
Harkaway would certainly have struck him with his whip. And behind their
master a crowd of the Puckeridge men collected themselves,--foremost
among whom was Joshua Thoroughbung. "Take 'em round to the covert by
Winnipeg Lane," said Mr. Fairlawn to his huntsman. The man prepared to
take his pack round by Winnipeg Lane, which would have added a mile to
the distance. But the huntsman, when he had got a little to the left,
was soon seen scurrying across the country in the direction of the
covert, with a dozen others at his heels, and the hounds following him.
But old Mr. Harkaway had seen it too, and having possession of the road,
galloped along it at such a pace that no one could pass him.

All the field declared t