Secure the favourite horse. Soon as the morn Reveals his wrongs, with ghastly visage wan, The plunder’d owner stands, and from his lips A thousand thronging curses burst their way: He calls his stout allies, and in a line His faithful hound he leads; then, with a voice That utters loud his rage, attentive cheers: Soon the sagacious brute, his curling tail Flourish’d in air, low-bending plies around His busy nose, the steaming vapour snuffs Inquisitive, nor leaves one turf untried; Till, conscious of the recent stains, his heart Beats quick; his snuffling nose, his active tail, Attest his joy; then, with deep-opening mouth, That makes the welkin tremble, he proclaims The audacious felon; foot by foot he marks His winding way, while all the listening crowd Applaud his reasonings. O’er the watery ford, Dry sandy heaths, and stony barren hills, O’er beaten paths, with men and beasts distain’d, Unerring he pursues; till at the cot Arrived, and seizing by his guilty throat The caitiff vile, redeems the captive prey: So exquisitely delicate his sense! Should some more curious sportsman here inquire, [Sidenote: BOOK I THE CHASE v. 336-360.] Whence this sagacity, this wond’rous power, Of tracing step by step, or man or brute; What guide invisible points out their way, O’er the dank marsh, bleak hill, and sandy plain? The courteous Muse shall the dark cause reveal. The blood that from the heart incessant rolls In many a crimson tide, then here and there, In smaller rills disparted, as it flows, Propell’d, the serous particles evade Through the open pores, and, with the ambient air Entangling, mix: as fuming vapours rise, And hang upon the gently-purling brook, There by the incumbent atmosphere compress’d. The panting chase grows warmer as he flies, And through the net-work of the skin perspires; Leaves a long streaming trail behind, which, by The cooler air condensed, remains, unless By some rude storm dispersed, or rarefied By the meridian sun’s intenser heat: To every shrub the warm effluvia cling, Hang on the grass, impregnate earth and skies: With nostrils opening wide, o’er hill, o’er dale, The vigorous hounds pursue, with every breath Inhale their grateful steam; quick pleasures sting Their tingling nerves, while they their thanks repay, [Sidenote: BOOK I THE CHASE v. 361-385.]