hingly, for he saw that
the lad was highly strung, and he did not wish to overdo it.
'I daresay that you will have no symptoms of the kind, but when they do
come they usually take the shape of insects, or reptiles, or curious
animals.'

"'And if I see anything of the kind?'

"'If you do, you will at once send for me;' and so, with a promise of
medicine, the doctor departed.

"Young Wat Danbury rose and dressed and moped about the room feeling
very miserable and unstrung, with a vision of the County Asylum for ever
in his mind. He had the doctor's word for it that if he could get
through to evening in safety he would be all right; but it is not very
exhilarating to be waiting for symptoms, and to keep on glancing at your
bootjack to see whether it is still a bootjack or whether it has begun
to develop antennae and legs. At last he could stand it no longer, and
an overpowering longing for the fresh air and the green grass came over
him. Why should he stay indoors when the Ascombe Hunt was meeting
within half a mile of him? If he was going to have these delusions
which the doctor talked of, he would not have them the sooner nor the
worse because he was on horseback in the open. He was sure, too, it
would ease his aching head. And so it came about that in ten minutes he
was in his hunting-kit, and in ten more he was riding out of his
stable-yard with his roan mare 'Matilda' between his knees. He was a
little unsteady in his saddle just at first, but the farther he went the
better he felt, until by the time he reached the meet his head was
almost clear, and there was nothing troubling him except those haunting
words of the doctor's about the possibility of delusions any time before
nightfall.

"But soon he forgot that also, for as he came up the hounds were thrown
off, and they drew the Gravel Hanger, and afterwards the Hickory Copse.
It was just the morning for a scent--no wind to blow it away, no water
to wash it out, and just damp enough to make it cling. There was a
field of forty, all keen men and good riders, so when they came to the
Black Hanger they knew that there would be some sport, for that's a
cover which never draws blank. The woods were thicker in those days
than now, and the foxes were thicker also, and that great dark
oak-grove was swarming with them. The only difficulty was to make them
break, for it is, as you know, a very close country, and you must coax
them out into the open before you ca