THE HUNTING
The Hare sat silent for a time, while I employed myself in watchingcertain shadows stream past us on the Great White Road. Among them wasthat of a politician whom I had much admired upon the earth. In thisland of Truth I was grieved to observe certain characteristics about himwhich I had never before suspected. It seemed to me, alas! that inhis mundane career he had not been so entirely influenced by asingle-hearted desire for the welfare of our country as he hadproclaimed and I had believed. I gathered even that his own interestshad sometimes inspired his policy.
He went by, leaving, so far as I was concerned, a somewhat painfulimpression from which I sought relief in the company of the open-souledHare.
"Well," I said, "I suppose that you died of exhaustion after yourcoursing experience, and came on here."
"Died of exhaustion, Mahatma, not a bit of it! In three days I was aswell as ever, only much more cunning than I had been before. In thenight I fed in the fields upon whatever I could get, but in the daytimeI always lay up in woods. This I did because I found out the shootingwas over, and I knew that greyhounds, which run by sight, would nevercome into woods."
The weeks went by and the days began to lengthen. Pretty yellow flowersthat I had not seen before appeared in the woods, and I ate plenty ofthem; they have a nice flavour. Then I met another hare and loved her,because she reminded me of my sister. We used to play about together andwere very happy. "I wonder what she will do now that I am gone."
"Console herself with somebody else," I suggested sarcastically.
"No, she won't do that, Mahatma, because the hounds 'chopped' her justoutside the Round Plantation. I mean they caught and ate her. You thinkthat I am contradicting myself, but I am not. I mean I wonder what shewill do without me in whatever world she has reached, for I don't seeher here." Well, I went to the little Round Plantation because I foundthat Giles seldom came there and I thought it would be safer, but as itproved I made a great mistake. One day there appeared the Red-faced Manand Tom and the girl, Ella, and a lot of other people mounted on horses,some of them dressed in green coats with ridiculous-looking caps ontheir heads.
Also with them were I don't know how many spotted dogs whose tailscurled over their backs, not like greyhounds whose tails curl betweentheir legs. Outside of the Plantation those dogs caught and ate myfuture wife, as I have said. It was her own fault, for I had warned hernot to go there, but she was a very self-willed character. As it wasshe never even gave them a run, for they were all round her in a minute.Then they made a kind of cartwheel; their heads were in the centre ofthis cartwheel and their tails pointed out. In its exact middle was myfuture wife.
When the wheel broke up there was nothing of her left except her scut,which lay upon the ground.
I had seen so many of such things that I was not so much shocked asyou might suppose. After all a fine hare like myself could always getanother wife, and as I have told you she was very self-willed.
So I lay still, thinking that those men and dogs would go away.
But what do you think Mahatma? Just as they were going the boy Tomcalled out--
"I say, Dad, I think we might as well knock through the RoundPlantation. Giles tells me that the old speckle-backed buck lies uphere."
"Does he?" said Grampus. "Well, if so, that's the hare I want tosee, for I know he'd give us a good run. Here, Jerry" (Jerry was thehuntsman), "just put the hounds into that place."
So Jerry put the hounds in, making dreadful noises to encourage them,and of course I came out, as I did not wish to share the fate of myfuture wife.
"That's him!" screeched Tom. "Look at the grey marks on his back."
"Yes, that's he right enough," shouted the Red-faced Man. "Lay them on,Jerry, lay them on; we're in for a rattling run now, I'll warrant."
So they were laid on and I went away as hard as my legs would carry me.Very soon I found that I had left all those curly-tailed dogs a long waybehind.
"Ah!" I said to myself proudly, "these beasts are not greyhounds; theyare like Giles's retriever and the sheep dog. They'll never see meagain." So I looped along saving my breath and heading for a wood whichwas quite five miles off that I had once visited from the Marsh on thesea-shore where I lay sick, for I was sure they would never follow methere.
You can imagine, then, Mahatma, how surprised I was when I drew nearthat wood to hear a hideous noise of dogs all barking together behindme, and on looking back, to see those spotted brutes, with their tongueshanging out, coming along quite close to each other and not more than aquarter of a mile away.
Moreover they were coming after me. I was sure of that, for the first ofthem kept setting its nose to the ground just where I had run, and thenlifting up its head to bay. Yes, they were coming on my scent. Theycould smell me as Giles's curly dog smells the wounded partridges. Myheart sank at the thought, but presently I remembered that the wood wasquite close, and that there I should certainly give them the slip.
So I went on quite cheerfully, not even running as fast as I could. Butfortune was against me, as everything has always been, for I never founda friend. I ran along the side of a hedgerow which went quite up tothe wood, not knowing that at the end of it three men were engaged incutting down an oak tree. You see, Mahatma, they had caught sight of thehunt and stopped from their work, so that I did not hear the sound oftheir axes upon the tree. Nor, as my head was so near the ground, did Isee them until I was right on to them, at which moment also they saw me.
"Here she is!" yelled one of them. "Keep her out of covert or they'lllose her," and he threw out his arms and began to jump about, as did theother two.
I pulled up short within three or four yards of them. Behind were thedogs and the people galloping upon horses and in front were the threemen. What was I to do? Now I had stopped exactly in a gateway, for alane ran alongside the wood. After a moment's pause I bolted through thegateway, thinking that I would get into the wood beyond. But one of themen, who of course wanted to see me killed, was too quick for me andthere headed me again.
Then I lost my senses. Instead of running on past him and leaping intothe wood, I swung right round and rushed back, still clinging to thehedgerow. Indeed as I went down one side of it the hounds and thehunters came up on the other, so that there were only a few sticksbetween us, though fortunately the wind was blowing from them to me.Fearing lest they should see me I jumped into the ditch and ran forquite two hundred yards through the mud and water that was gatheredthere. Then I had to come out of it again as it ended but here was afall in the ground, so still I was not seen.
Meanwhile the hunt had reached the three men and I heard them alltalking together. The end of it was that the men explained which way Ihad gone, and once more the hounds were laid on to me. In a minute theygot to where I had entered the ditch, and there grew confused because myfootmarks did not smell in the water. For quite a long time they lookedabout till at length, taking a wide cast, the hounds found my smellagain at the end of the ditch.
During this check I was making the best of my way back towards my ownhome; indeed had it not been for it I should have been caught and tornto pieces much sooner than I was. Thus it happened that I had coveredquite three miles before once more I heard those hounds baying behindme. This was just as I got on to the moorland, at that edge of it whichis about another three miles from the great house called the Hall, whichstands on the top of a cliff that slopes down to the beach and the sea.
I had thought of making for the other wood, that in which I had savedmyself from the greyhounds when the beast Jack broke its neck againstthe tree, but it was too far off, and the ground was so open that I didnot dare to try.
So I went straight on, heading towards the cliff. Another mile andthey viewed me, for I heard Tom yell with delight as he stood up in hisstirrups on the black cob he was riding and waved his cap. Jerry thehuntsman also stood up in his stirrups and waved his cap, and the lastawful hunt began.
I ran--oh! how I ran. Once when they were nearly on me I manag
ed tocheck them for a minute in a hollow by getting among some sheep. Butthey soon found me again, and came after me at full tear not more thana hundred yards behind. In front of me I saw something that lookedlike walls and bounded towards them with my last strength. My heart wasbursting, my eyes and mouth seemed to be full of blood, but the terrorof being torn to pieces still gave me power to rush on almost as quicklyas though I had just been put off my form. For as I have told you,Mahatma, I am, or rather was, a very strong and swift hare.
I reached the walls; there was an open doorway in them through which Ifled, to find myself in a big garden. Two gardeners saw me and shoutedloudly. I flew on through some other doors, through a yard, and into apassage where I met a woman carrying a pail, who shrieked and fell onto her back. I jumped over her and got into a big room, where was along table covered with white on which were all sorts of things that Isuppose men eat. Out of that room I went into yet another, where a fatwoman with a hooked nose was seated holding something white in front ofher. I bolted under the thing on which she was seated and lay there.She saw me come and began to shriek also, and presently a most terriblenoise arose outside.
All the spotted dogs were in the house, baying and barking, andeverybody was yelling. Then for a minute the dogs stopped their clamour,and I heard a great clatter of things breaking and of teeth crunchingand of the Red-faced Man shouting--
"Those cursed brutes are eating the hunt lunch. Get them out, Jerry, youidiot! Get them out! Great heavens! what's the matter with her Ladyship?Is any one murdering her?"
I suppose that they couldn't get them out, or at least when they didthey all came into the other room where I was under the seat on whichthe fat woman was now standing.
"What is it, mother?" I heard Tom say.
"An animal!" she screamed. "An animal under the sofa!"
"All right," he said, "that's only the hare. Here, hounds, out with her,hounds!"
The dogs rushed about, some of them with great lumps of food stillin their mouths. But they were confused, and all went into the wrongplaces. Everything began to fall with dreadful crashes, the fat womanshrieked piercingly, and her shriek was--
"China! Oh! my china-a. John, you wretch! Help! Help! Help!"
To which the Red-faced Man roared in answer--
"Don't be an infernal fool, Eliza-a. I say, don't be such an infernalfool."
Also there were lots of other noises that I cannot remember, except onewhich a dog made.
This silly dog had thrust its head up the hole over a fire such as thestops make outside the coverts when men are going to shoot, either tohide something or to look for me there. When it came down again becausethe Red-faced Man kicked it, the dog put its paws into the fire andpulled it all out over the floor. Also it howled very beautifully. Justthen another hound, that one which generally led the pack, began tosniff about near me and finally poked its nose under the stuff which hidme.
It jumped back and bayed, whereon I jumped out the other side. Tom madea rush at me and knocked the fat woman off the thing she was standingon, so that she fell among the dogs, which covered her up and began tosniff her all over. Flying from Tom I found myself in front of somethingfilmy, beyond which I saw grass. It looked suspicious, but as nothing inthe world could be so bad as Tom, no, not even his dogs, I jumped at it.
There was a crash and a sharp point cut my nose, but I was out upon thegrass. Then there were twenty other crashes, and all the hounds were outtoo, for Tom had cheered them on. I ran to the edge of the lawn and sawa steep slope leading to the sands and the sea. Now I knew what thesea was, for after Tom had shot me in the back I lived by it for a longwhile, and once swam across a little creek to get to my form, from whichit cut me off.
While I ran down that slope fast as my aching legs would carry me, Imade up my mind that I would swim out into the sea and drown there,since it is better to drown than to be torn to pieces. "But why are youlaughing, friend Mahatma."
"I am not laughing," I said. "In this state, without a body, I havenothing to laugh with. Still you are right, for you see that I should belaughing if I could. Your story of the stout lady and the dogs and thechina is very amusing."
"Perhaps, friend, but it did not amuse me. Nothing is amusing when oneis going to be eaten alive."
"Of course it isn't," I answered. "Please forgive me and go on."
"Well, I tumbled down that cliff, followed by some of the dogs and Tomand the girl Ella and the huntsman Jerry on foot, and dragged myselfacross the sands till I came to the lip of the sea."
Just here there was a boat and by it stood Giles the keeper. He had comethere to get out of the way of the hunting, which he hated as much as hedid the coursing. The sight of him settled me--into the sea I went. Thedogs wanted to follow me, but Jerry called and whipped them off.
"I won't have them caught in the current and drowned," he said. "Let theflea-bitten old devil go, she's brought trouble enough already."
"Help me shove off the boat, Giles," shouted Tom. "She shan't beat us;we must have her for the hounds. Come on, Ella."
"Best leave her alone, Master Tom," said Giles. "I think she's anunlucky one, that I do."
Still the end of it was that he helped to float the little boat and gotinto it with Tom and Ella.
Just after they had pushed off I saw a man running down the steps onthe cliff waving his arms while he called out something. But of him theytook no heed. I do not think they noticed him. As for me, I swam on.
I could not go very fast because I was so dreadfully tired; also I didnot like swimming, and the cold waves broke over my head, making the cutin my nose smart and filling my eyes with something that stung them.I could not see far either, nor did I know where I was going. I knewnothing except I was about to die, and that soon everything would be atan end; men, dogs--everything, yes, even Tom. I wanted things to cometo an end. I had suffered so dreadfully, life was so horrible, I was sovery tired. I felt that it was better to die and have done.
So I swam on a long way and began to forget things; indeed I thoughtthat I was playing in the big turnip field with my mother and sister.But just as I was sinking exhausted a hand shot down into the water andcaught me by the ears, although from below the fingers looked as thoughthey were bending away from me. I saw it coming and tried to sink morequickly, but could not.
"I've got her," said the voice of Tom gleefully. "My! isn't she abeauty? Over nine pounds if she is an ounce. Only just in time, though,"he went on, "for, look! she's drowning; her head wobbles as though shewere sea-sick. Buck up, pussie, buck up! You mustn't cheat the hounds atlast, you know. It wouldn't be sportsmanlike, and they hate dead hares."
Then he held me by my hind legs to drain the water out of me, andafterwards began to blow down my nose, I did not know why.
"Don't do that, Tom," said Ella sharply. "It's nasty."
"Must keep the life in her somehow," answered Tom, and went on blowing.
"Master Tom," interrupted Giles, who was rowing the boat. "I ain'tparticular, but I wish you'd leave that there hare alone. Somehow Ithinks there's bad news in its eye. Who knows? P'raps the little devilfeels. Any way, it's a rum one, its swimming out to sea. I never see'd ahunted hare do that afore."
"Bosh!" said Tom, and continued his blowing.
We reached the shore and Tom jumped out of the boat, holding me by theears. The hounds were all on the beach, most of them lying down, forthey were very tired, but the men were standing in a knot at a distancetalking earnestly, Tom ran to the hounds, crying out--
"Here she is, my beauties, here she is!" whereon they got up and beganto bay. Then he held me above them.
"Master Tom," I heard Jerry's voice say, "for God's sake let that harego and listen, Master Tom," and the girl Ella, who of a sudden had begunto sob, tried to pull him back.
But he was mad to see me bitten to death and eaten, and until he haddone so would attend to no one. He only shouted, "One--two--three! Now,hounds! _Worry, worry, worry!_"
Then he threw me into t
he air above the red throats and gnashing teethwhich leapt up towards me.
*****
The Hare paused, but added, "Did you tell me, friend Mahatma, that youhad never been torn to pieces by hounds, 'broken up,' I believe theycall it?"
"Yes, I did," I answered, "and what is more I shall be obliged if youwill not dwell upon the subject."