enthusiasm, and joining the pack just where the fun grew furious, howled a dismal accompaniment to the cheering notes of the chase. On, on, into the darkness beyond, sped the tempest of pursuit--now wedged into narrow passes and involved in a hundred confused knots, now unravelling on the open plains beyond and flowing on in currents bold and free as those that kissed the shore beneath them, now leaping brake and fell, now skirting hazardous banks, now hugging obtrusive shores, and hark! at a sharp signal from the "leader" all sounds are hushed,--followed by a plunging boom, and, churned into a thousand eddies, the bold Ocmulgee supports the rout of panting men and beasts, who have no sooner recovered from the chilling baptism than each bends forward in a mad struggle to reach first the yonder shore and herald this clamorous invasion to its phantoms of darkness. But so close on the heels of the dripping "leader" pressed the frantic crew--who owed him fealty come life or death--that his opening chorus was echoed by a hundred lesser sounds that were not echoes, and with a mighty effort the panting "Ketch," leaping sheer from the waves to the upper bank, was not too late with his base variation. And now the wild pursuit is begun anew, for the tardiest horseman is spurring into the depth of the forest beyond, and skurrying out of sight and hearing if that were possible--the wailing wood notes have a story to whisper to the deserted shore. But "the best laid plans of mice and men aft gang aglee," and not above a half mile from their watery exodus the puzzled yelpers vary their chorus and slacken speed, and, warned by a ringing blast on the huntsman's horn, the whole company of baffled pursuers double on their track, and by twos, and threes, and then in larger squads, rejoin their river base. Here the huntsmen consult together, and the pack renew their frenzy, frisking along the river shore, scouring the woods, and soon afterwards, indicating by a yelping chorus far down the stream that the stratagem of the refugees led them that way. The impatient horsemen soon gallop at their heels, and after one or two dissentient howls from the aged skeptics of the pack, they one and all run full upon the warm scent, with a clamor that causes the woods to "ring again," and sends the vital current tingling along the veins of the coldest-blooded horseman. And now the lull is past, and the thunder of pursuit once more greets the forest echoes. Away, away, distancing the swamp tracts and riding into the region of the morning, for its first beams, striking through the tree-boughs, sprinkle their forms and play in feathered jets along the bosom of the forest. Away, away, riding neck and neck with the fleet-footed swamp-hare, and crossing the hurricane's track with a rush and sound that might have been its refrain. Away, away, emerging upon the broad plateau, and yelling, yelping, whooping, cursing, but never slackening speed. Away, away, vanishing