Page:Redcoat (1927).djvu/197

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.

again, with the hounds and the frantically galloping horses in hot pursuit. This time on the three mile lap they cut down his lead by nearly half, so when he turned back northward they were only about eighty rods behind. It was a terrific pace. Redcoat had never known hounds to run so before. In fact, this was a special pack noted for its fleetness, imported from Virginia for this chase. Behind the dogs were the men and the galloping horses urging the hounds forward. Thus it happened on the return three miles the dogs and horsemen cut the distance in half and Redcoat was only forty rods ahead when the horsemen in the roadway again headed him back southward. Oh, but it was desperate running! If he could only stop for five minutes and rest, but he could not for the pack and the thundering cavalcade were all after him. When he reached the southern end of the run again he was only twenty rods ahead, so he dashed into a small pine woods to see if he could gain a little by running among the trees. This ruse did help him and when he