they leapt
pursuing a hare. The men on the horses galloped after them, but the men
on foot remained where they were.

Now I was afraid to get up and run lest they should loose the other dogs
on me, so I lay still, till presently I saw the hare coming back towards
me, followed by the two dogs whose noses almost touched its tail. It was
exhausted and tried to twist and spring away to the right. But as it did
so one of the dogs caught it in its mouth and bit it till it died.

"That was a rotten hare," said Tom, who cantered up just then, "it gave
no course at all."

"Yes," puffed Grampus. "Hope the next one will show better sport."

"Hope so too," answered Tom, "especially as it is Jack and Jill's turn
to be slipped, and they are the best greyhounds for twenty miles round."

Then the Red-faced Man gave some orders and Jack and Jill were brought
forward by the man whose business it was to slip the dogs. One of them
was black and one yellow; I think Jack was the black one--a dreadful,
sneaking-looking beast with a white tip to its tail, which ended in a
sort of curl.

"Forward now," said Grampus, "and go slow. There's sure to be another
puss or two in this rough grass."

Next second I was up and away, and before you could count twelve Jack
and Jill were after me. I saw them standing on their hind legs straining
at the cord. Then the collars fell from them and they leapt forward like
the light. My thought was to get back to the wood, which was about
a minute's run behind me, but I did not dare to turn and head for it
because of the long line of people through which I must pass if I tried
to do so. So I ran straight for the moorland, hoping to turn there and
reach the wood on its other side, although this meant a long journey.

For a while all went well with me, and having a good start I began to
hope that I should outrun these beasts, as I had the shepherd's dog and
the retriever. But I did not know Jack and Jill. Just as I reached the
borders of the moor I heard the patter of their feet behind me, and
looking back saw them coming up, about as far away as I was from Tom
when he shot me.

They were running quite close together and behind them galloped the
judge and other men. There was a fence here and I bolted through a hole
in it. The greyhounds jumped over and for a moment lost sight of me, for
I had turned and run down near the side of the fence. But Tom, who had
come through a gap, saw me and waved his arm shou