Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1898-03-23
WESTERN RABBIT COURSING.
HOW Mr.. JACK LEADS A MERRY SPURT
ACROSS THE PRAIRIE.
The ExhiIaratiou OF Hunting With Dogs and
Horses In a Plain Comparison of Speed
...Women Take Part in the Chase.

E0TSeS Ill fidlu COMPARISON VI oPSSN
...Women Take Part In the Chase.
1t is early morning. The air, light
and cool, blows from the east. The
prairie is starred with flowers. Far in
the distance rises lonely butte, blue
and ominous like a cloud. A line of
trees stands almost upon the horizons
edge, showing that their roots are
washed by a shallow stream that be-
comes a deadly torrent in the rain
time. The yellow-breasted field lark
carols keenly from the grass. The
sparrow hawk cuts the air with zigzag
wing. Seven are in the party-five
men and two women. They are well
mounted. The horses are the small,
nervous, closely built product of the
prairie They do not stride as far as
the big horse OF the cities, but they
pick it up faster-with marvellous
swiftness, in fact. They are hardy,
too. They shall carry you at top speed
until they drop and he nothing the
worse for it in day or two. They get
little corn, which is heating, but all
they can eat of the most nutritious
grasses in the world.
The dogs are coupled-sleek, grace
full, beautiful creatures-and their own
er holds them by stout cord which
passes around his wrist. Their slender
limbs are quivering and their eyes
blaze with excitement. The greyhound
is probably the least intelligent of our
canine friends, but he knows when he
is wanted for the chase. 1t is his chief
dissipation. A hundred and fifty yards
ahead and slightly to the right a jack
rabbit springs from a clump OF weeds.
AS he bounds away in long, slow leaps
at half speed, he looks not unlike
fawn. His tremendous ears point
straight upward. He is travelling upon
three feet, holding the other clear of
the ground. The dogs are unleashed
and are off like bolt from crossbow.
simultaneously the rabbit lengthens
his stride and begins to get down to
business. With backward glance
of his prominent dark eye he has see
them and knows that the race of his
life is on. The pursuers are fifty yards
away and going like the wind when the
word is given and the reins are loosed.
The turf is springy and level as a
floor. The rushing air sings in the
ear. One feels the quick leaps OF the
horse, but the eyes are fastened upon
the chase. 1t is all in plain view. 1t
could be seen two miles away. The
dogs do not give tongue. They run
wholly by sight Their chase is as
silent as the grave and as relentless
as death. They have put half mile
behind them and are warmed to their
work. The quarry leads them by sew
enty-fve yards. They can hear the
roll of the twenty eight hoofs behind.
Wild halloos come to them, varied by
the shrill call of woman. These girls
of the West are sitting well back. with
the knee firmly crooked and the hands
low. One Of them has lost her hat
and her tawny hair streams behind her
like a flag.
Another quarter mile and the jack
begins to feel that the game is worth
his undivided attention. His ears come
straight back upon his long brown
body and he puts down the other leg.
He is going now for all that there is
in him, and there is great deal. He
lengthens the gap by five yards and
the chase steadies itself. at this rate
he is Just holding the dogs. The light
weight on the gray has gripped him
hard, because he is ten yards behind
the dogs and wants to move up ana
do some trampling.
Four hundred yards in twenty sec
onds aad the pace is telling upon the
doomed one. His white belly Is closer
to the ground and he is desperately
striving, but he makes less speed. The
hounds are gaining fast. They are
within ten yards of him-five-three.
Suddenly he whirls at right angles.
One of his foemen overruns, but the
other, an older dog, whirls with him
and is hot after him. Ten more spas
modic leaps, each shorter than the
last, an accurate bound by the dog, s.
pitiful squeak and all is over. Well
done, Maida The other dog comes
I'D feeling ashamed and wants to take
It out of the CORPSE. The girl who
has lost her hat drops the reins to twist
up her tawny hair. The other, with
flushed face. is laughing wildly at
very small joke. Killed in mile and
a. quarter. The girths are loosened
and the men light cigarettes, Every
body talks dog and talks at once. A
half dozen chases make the mornings
sport, but there is an appetite for lun-
checn in one such ride as that.-Chl-
cago Times-Herald.