and snatching a loaded
fowling-piece from one of them, he clambered over the pales, and guided
by the crashing branches and other sounds conveyed to his quick ear, he
was speedily upon Luke's track.

The plantation through which the chase now took place was not, as might
be supposed, a continuation of the ring fence which Luke had originally
crossed on his entrance into the park, though girded by the same line of
paling, but, in reality, a close pheasant preserve, occupying the banks
of a ravine, which, after a deep and tortuous course, terminated in the
declivity heretofore described as forming the park boundary. Luke
plunged into the heart of this defile, fighting his way downwards, in
the direction of the brook. His progress was impeded by a thick
undergrowth of brier, and other matted vegetation, as well as by the
entanglements thrown in his way by the taller bushes of thorn and hazel,
the entwined and elastic branches of which, in their recoil, galled and
fretted him, by inflicting smart blows on his face and hands. This was a
hardship he usually little regarded. But, upon the present occasion, it
had the effect, by irritating his temper, of increasing the thirst of
vengeance raging in his bosom.

Through the depths of the ravine welled the shallow stream before
alluded to, and Hugh Badger had no sooner reached its sedgy margin than
he lost all trace of the fugitive. He looked cautiously round, listened
intently, and inclined his ear to catch the faintest echo. All was
still: not a branch shook, not a leaf rustled. Hugh looked aghast. He
had made sure of getting a glimpse, and, perhaps, a stray shot at the
"poaching rascal," as he termed him, "in the open space, which he was
sure the fellow was aiming to reach; and now, all at once, he had
disappeared, like a will-o'-the-wisp or a boggart of the clough."
However, he could not be far off, and Hugh endeavored to obtain some
clue to guide him in his quest. He was not long in detecting recent
marks deeply indented in the mud on the opposite bank. Hugh leaped
thither at once. Further on, some rushes were trodden down, and there
were other indications of the course the fugitive had taken.

"Hark forward!" shouted Hugh, in the joy of his heart at this discovery;
and, like a well-trained dog, he followed up with alacrity the scent he
had opened. The brook presented still fewer impediments to expedition
than the thick copse, and the keeper pursued the wanderings of the p