ce, I have read _Tom Brown_, and in the second
place, I have a brother who is devoted to athletics, and who has just
returned from a "run" with his club. It is just like a real hunt, only
all the animals are human beings; two boys are hares, and carry bags
full of scraps of paper, which they scatter as they go; any number of
boys are the hounds, and follow this paper scent; two boys are the
whippers-in, who call the "pack" together with great tin horns; one boy
is master of the hunt, and does nothing in particular, though he is
supposed to arrange everything.

My brother got up at an unearthly hour on the morning of his hunt, in
order to meet his fellow-dogs and their prey at the Grand Central Depot
at nine o'clock. I am sure that he was over an hour before time, though
he will not own to more than a quarter of it; I know that he had a jolly
time, anyway. But I will give his report in his own words.

"Such fun! We ran twelve miles--_twelve miles_! Just think of it! Why,
we got way up round Spuyten Duyvel--from High Bridge, you know; but
first, you know, we all met at the depot; then when we got to High
Bridge we went to the hotel and changed our things. We started from
there. We only intended to run twelve miles, but the hares took us
twenty; they meant to take us up to Yonkers, they said. Never mind; they
got the worst of it--they had to run the fastest, you know. Didn't we
tear through the country!--up hill and down dale, over stone walls and
brambles and down swamps; one fellow got up to his knees in water. We
lost the scent once, near a railroad track, and it took us about five
minutes to find it.

"The hares had colored papers, pink, blue, white, and yellow, and they
looked quite pretty scattered all over the ground.

"The people about the country seemed to take a great deal of interest in
us; one or two told us which way the hares had gone; a policeman too,
near High Bridge, told us. They seemed to understand all about it. I
thought they'd think we were crazy--a whole lot of fellows in white caps
tearing through the country in that way.

"Oh, that reminds me: two little boys asked one of our fellows what we
were going after. 'Two men.' 'What have they done?' 'Stolen our
watches;' and they stood staring after us with their eyes and mouths as
wide open as--as--oh, anything.

"Oh, I must tell you: one time just as we were going along the road we
heard a tremendous noise on the other side of the fence; we though