ting, and next instant
Jack and Jill saw me too.

Then as the going was rough by the fence I took to the open moor, always
trying, however, to work round to the left in the hope that I might win
the shelter of the wood.

On we went like the wind, and now Jack and Jill were quite close behind
me, though before they got there I had managed to circle so that at last
my head pointed to the wood, which was more than half a mile away. Their
speed was greater than mine, and I knew that I must soon be caught.

At last they were not more than two yards behind, and for the first time
I twisted so that they overshot me, which gave me another start. Three
times they came up and three times I wrenched or twisted. The wood was
not so far away now, but I was almost spent.

What was I to do! What was I to do! I saw a clump of furze to the
left, a big clump and thick, and remembered that there was a hare's run
through it. I reached it just as Jill was on the top of me, and once
more they lost sight of me for a while as they ran round the clump
staring and jumping. When they saw me again on the further side I was
thirty yards ahead of them and the wood was perhaps two hundred and
fifty yards away. But now I could only run more slowly, for my heart
seemed to be bursting, though luckily Jack and Jill were getting tired
also. Still they soon came up, and now I must twist every few yards, or
be caught in their jaws.

I can't tell you what I felt, Mahatma, and until you have been hunted by
greyhounds you will never know. It was horrible. Yet I managed to twist
and jump so that always Jack and Jill just missed me. The farmers on the
horses laughed to see my desperate leaps and wrenches.

But Tom did worse than laugh. Noting that I was getting quite near the
wood, he rode between me and it, trying to turn me into the open, for he
wished to see me killed.

"Don't do that! It isn't sportsmanlike," shouted the Red-faced Man.
"Give the poor beast a chance."

I don't know whether he obeyed or not, as just then I made my last
double, and felt Jill's teeth cut through the fur of my scut and heard
them snap. I had dodged Jill, but Jack was right on to me and the wood
still twenty yards away.

I could not twist any more, it was just which of us could get there
first. I gathered all my remaining strength, for I was mad, mad with
terror, and bounded forward.

After me came Jack, I felt his hot breath on my flank. I jumped the
ditch, yes, I fo