lse to draw?" asked Phineas.

"In the common course of things we should take Muggery Gorse, and so
on to Trumpeton Wood. But Muggery is on the Duke's land, and Chiltern
is in such a fix! He won't go there unless he can't help it. Muggery
Gorse is only a mile this side of the big wood."

"And foxes of course go to the big wood?" asked Madame Max.

"Not always. They often come here,--and as they can't hang here, we
have the whole country before us. We get as good runs from Muggery as
from any covert in the country. But Chiltern won't go there to-day
unless the hounds show a line. By George, that's a fox! That's Dido.
That's a find!" And Spooner galloped away, as though Dido could do
nothing with the fox she had found unless he was there to help her.

Spooner was quite right, as he generally was on such occasions. He
knew the hounds even by voice, and knew what hound he could believe.
Most hounds will lie occasionally, but Dido never lied. And there
were many besides Spooner who believed in Dido. The whole pack rushed
to her music, though the body of them would have remained utterly
unmoved at the voice of any less reverenced and less trustworthy
colleague. The whole wood was at once in commotion,--men and women
riding hither and thither, not in accordance with any judgment; but
as they saw or thought they saw others riding who were supposed to
have judgment. To get away well is so very much! And to get away well
is often so very difficult! There are so many things of which the
horseman is bound to think in that moment. Which way does the wind
blow? And then, though a fox will not long run up wind, he will break
covert up wind, as often as not. From which of the various rides
can you find a fair exit into the open country, without a chance of
breaking your neck before the run begins? When you hear some wild
halloa, informing you that one fox has gone in the direction exactly
opposite to that in which the hounds are hunting, are you sure that
the noise is not made about a second fox? On all these matters you
are bound to make up your mind without losing a moment; and if you
make up your mind wrongly the five pounds you have invested in that
day's amusement will have been spent for nothing. Phineas and Madame
Goesler were in the very centre of the wood when Spooner rushed away
from them down one of the rides on hearing Dido's voice; and at that
time they were in a crowd. Almost immediately the fox was seen to
cross anoth