"
"Constance and I were well mounted," continued the Baroness
serenely, "and we had no difficulty in keeping ourselves in the
first flight, though it was a fairly stiff run. Towards the
finish, however, we must have held rather too independent a line,
for we lost the hounds, and found ourselves plodding aimlessly
along miles away from anywhere. It was fairly exasperating, and
my temper was beginning to let itself go by inches, when on
pushing our way through an accommodating hedge we were gladdened
by the sight of hounds in full cry in a hollow just beneath us.
"'There they go,' cried Constance, and then added in a gasp, 'In
Heaven's name, what are they hunting?'
"It was certainly no mortal fox. It stood more than twice as
high, had a short, ugly head, and an enormous thick neck.
"'It's a hyaena,' I cried; 'it must have escaped from Lord
Pabham's Park.'
"At that moment the hunted beast turned and faced its pursuers,
and the hounds (there were only about six couple of them) stood
round in a half-circle and looked foolish. Evidently they had
broken away from the rest of the pack on the trail of this alien
scent, and were not quite sure how to treat their quarry now they
had got him.
Pages:
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30