CHAPTER IXAnd now the squire has trapped the Mink,
And now he sets him free,
And now the Mink is hunted down
On hill and vale and lea.
He pants and gasps, his legs grow weak,
His eyes with sweat are blind;
In squire’s halloo and hound’s mad bark
He hears his death behind!
—Ruck’s Ballad of the Mind
* * * *
They took Revel to the top of a hill just behind Ewyo’s mansion. He was stripped to the buff, but on his feet were stout sandals of horsehide in triple thickness, so that he could run well and give them a good hunt. On the crest they untied him, and he stood naked in a ring of the horsed gentry, rubbing his wrists and glaring at them. Beside him were Jerran and the mutilated Dawvys, who both wore their customary shirts and trousers.
Running his eyes over the squirachy, Revel s
