Page:Redcoat (1927).djvu/191



Y the time Redcoat was four years old he had reached his greatest size and weight. He had been just as tall and rangy when he was two years old, but not so heavy. Also his greatest cunning and knowledge of the ways of men had come to him by this time.

The three futile attempts of the Meadowdale Fox Club the Autumn before had so discouraged the hunters that they had left Redcoat very much to himself during the following winter. He had given other hounds some lively runs, but he always had been able to dismiss them whenever he was tired of the game so it had been just an amusing farce. Because of this fact, Redcoat's confidence that had been partly shaken in the Fall had all came back to him.

With his achievements of the Autumn be-