recommended him. My apprehensions for his safety were raised immediately. By the time that I had ascertained that the youth was actually missing, it was about two in the afternoon; and although the sun shone bright in a perfectly cloudless sky, the intensity of the frost was so great, that even where its oblique rays penetrated the surface of the snow, among the tall forest-trees, their influence was scarcely perceptible. Without waiting for the assembled hunters to disperse, or even to listen to the boastings of those who might claim the scalps of the wolves that had been shot down (there being a high bounty upon wolves' scalps in that district), I set off homeward, accompanied by a single hunter that resided near me. We stopped, occasionally, and hallooed, in order to attract the attention of the youth, provided he was wandering in that part of the forest through which we passed; but our shouts were in vain, not even an echo answered our calls. I was in hopes, however, that he might have wandered a little too much towards the left, for in that direction there was a sort of wood-track which led back to the place of our assembling in the morning, and I had not omitted to acquaint him with this matter. Nor had I neglected to call his attention to the bearings of my residence, from the portion of the forest we were about to "drive ;" and I had, moreover, reminded him of the position the sun would be seen in at the various periods of the day. About four o'clock we reached the hunter's cottage, the place of our assembling in the morning; but, to my mortification, we could gain no tidings of the missing youth. Still it was possible that he might have passed the house in question without the inmates seeing him, or have wandered through the neighbouring thickets, and yet have reached home without ever falling into the wood-track until near his journey's end. When I reached home, the last rays of the sun had just faded in the west, and the shades of night were fast approaching; but I could learn no tidings of young Fred. I then became seriously alarmed for his safety, and scarcely knew what steps to take in an emergency so peculiar. It was quite clear, however, that there was no time to lose, and I therefore resolved upon raising the whole neighbourhood. For this purpose I made one of my boys get into a sleigh, and drive with all practicable speed along such roads as it was possible for the horses to make their way in, and inform the inhabitants that a young gentleman was missing in the woods; while to such places as this messenger was not likely to reach, I sent off another boy and the hunter that had returned with me. I then hastened back with all speed, hoping to intercept some of the hunters on their way to their homes. Although, on ordinary occasions, I have known it very difficult to interest or excite these people's feelings; on emergencies like the present, when the life of a fellow-being was at stake, I have always found them ready to render every assistance. By the time that it was quite dark, fifty or sixty persons had assembled at the settler's house where we met in the morning; while several small parties entered the woods from other directions. We immediately arranged ourselves into parties of six or seven persons-each party carrying a lantern or two. As we advanced into the woods, we kept up a communication with those on either hand, by hallooing; our shouts, of course, intended also to attract the attention of the lost youngster. After pursuing our way for nearly a couple of hours (the woods being still more difficult to traverse by night than by day), we descried a light, much brighter than that of any lantern; and as we approached it, a voice was heard replying to our hallooing, while, at the same time, we could distinctly see the flickering flames of a large fire. On approaching it still closer, we perceived young Fred. upon the trunk of a prostrate tree, as close to the fire as he could possibly sit without being scorched. From what he related to me, it appeared that after the line was formed in the morning, and had continued to advance for a short time, he came in contact with so impenetrable a thicket, that, after vainly attempting to force his way through it, he was compelled to retrace his steps. The time he lost in this fruitless endeavour, had left him in rear of the line; and, although he heard faint blasts of the hunters' horns, he met with further difficulties in his advance, and presently heard no more of them. He presumed, afterwards, that he had kept too much to the right; and, although he occasionally fell in with footsteps, he was not able to make out which way the parties had been going, owing to the great depth of snow, and its extreme lightness. He had also heard several reports of guns, but at so great a distance that he gave up all thoughts of reaching the quarter from whence they proceeded. Being provided with an apparatus for striking a light, he had selected a place where there seemed to be plenty of dry and decayed timber. He next lighted a fire, and, having ate a portion of his small stock of provisions, proceeded to make a collection of fuel, consisting of hemlock and pine bark, and such limbs and branches of trees as came within his reach. He had built up his fire against a tall dead pine-tree, fifty feet of the lower portion of which was in a blaze when we discovered him. After lighting his fire, it was his intention to proceed in the direction in which he supposed my dwelling to lie; but, as the day was advancing, he became fearful of making the experiment, and, ultimately, resolved to abide by his pinetree, taking the chance of being fallen in with by the hunters on their homeward route; and, if that should not happen, to remain where he was until the next morning, when he would watch the rising of the sun, and set out with the whole day before him. During the afternoon, some deer had approached him within half-rifle-distance, but he had floundered in the snow so much that his rifle was rendered useless. He assured me that he had never felt alarmed at his situation; and was of opinion that he could have passed the night by his fire without suffering any peculiar discomfort or inconvenience. This, however, very much doubt; for, although he had contrived to keep himself tolerably warm during the day, when his time had been principally occupied in collecting fuel, I doubt his being able to keep himself awake during the latter part of the night; for, in addition to fatigue, the increase of cold would have a tendency to produce drowsiness; and if once he had suffered sleep to overpower him, that sleep would have been his last. Fred., however, has lived to be a keen and expert woodsman; and few young men among the whole range of the Alleghany Mountains are more adventurous hunters, or can use a rifle with a more deadly aim than himself. 174 FOX-HUNTING IN WEST SUSSEX. THE subjoined letters were forwarded to us, with a request that they might be published. Let it not be supposed that we do so with any reference to those family considerations, which, unhappily, jeopardy the existence of fox-hunting in West Sussex. We think it right that all parties connected with that portion of the county, should know the prospects of the chase in their district, in the coming season. We told them, in our last, that Colonel Wyndham was extirpating his brother's foxes we now give them the fraternal "notice to quit.' Their own judgments will enable them to form their conclusions upon it : No. 1. (Copy.) : Grosvenor Place, 25th July, 1839. MY DEAR SIR, You will do me a great favour by being so kind as to communicate to General Wyndham, that he will much oblige me by having the goodness to desire his hunting servants not to draw any of the covers of the Petworth property in the county of Sussex with foxhounds. In making this request, I beg leave to disclaim all wish or intention of giving personal offence to any one; and with this view, I know of no one more proper than yourself to be my means of communication: and with many thanks for the trouble you have before taken, John King, Esq. MY DEAR GENERAL, No. 2. (Copy.) Yours very truly, G. WYNDHAM. I received the foregoing from Colonel Wyndham this morning; and, I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 25th inst. this day received, and its enclosure from Colonel Wyndham to you. Colonel Wyndham might have saved himself the trouble of passing this additional insult upon me and the gentlemen who hunt with me, by waiting to see whether they or I would condescend to draw the coverts of a person whose conduct towards us has been of a nature that I shall not here permit myself to name, but which may be collected from perusing the documents relating to this affair. I beg you will communicate the above to Colonel Wyndham; and, at the same time, to make it distinctly intelligible, that I do not give up one iota of my rights, in a fox-hunting point of view, which have been accorded to me by every landed proprietor within the hunt. Believe me, my dear Sir, Ever yours most truly, John King, Esq., Loxwood. HENRY WYNDHAM. |