The
old-fashioned open-air sport was cruel enough, for it often happened
that the hare ran for two or three miles with her ferocious pursuers
hard on her track, and every muscle of her body was strained with
poignant agony; but there is this to be said--the men had healthy,
matchless exercise on breezy plains and joyous uplands, they tramped all
day until their limbs were thoroughly exercised, and they earned sound
repose by their wholesome exertions. Moreover, the element of fair-play
enters into coursing when pursued in the open spaces. Pussy knows every
foot of the ground; nightly she steals gently to the fields where her
succulent food is found, and in the morning she steals back again to her
tiny nest, or form, amid the soft grass. All day she lies chewing the
cud in her fashion, and moving her delicate ears hither and thither,
lest fox or stoat or dog should come upon her unawares; and at nightfall
she steals away once more. Every run, every tuft of grass, every rising
of the ground is known to her; and, when at last the tramp of the
approaching beaters rouses her, she rushes away with a distinct
advantage over the dogs. She knows exactly whither to go; the other
animals do not, and usually, on open ground, the quarry escapes.
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