45882    Whereat Hugo ran from the house, crying to his grooms that they should saddle his mare and unkennel the pack, and giving the hounds a kerchief of the maid's he swung them to the line, and so off full cry in the moonlight over the moor.

45883    'Now, for some space the revellers stood agape, unable to understand all that had been done in such haste.

45884    But anon their bemused wits awoke to the nature of the deed which was like to be done upon the moorlands.

45885    Everything was now in an uproar, some calling for their pistols, some for their horses, and some for another flask of wine.

45886    But at length some sense came back to their crazed minds, and the whole of them, thirteen in number, took horse and started in pursuit.

45887    The moon shone clear above them, and they rode swiftly abreast, taking that course which the maid must needs have taken if she were to reach her own home.

45888    'They had gone a mile or two when they passed one of the night shepherds upon the moorlands, and they cried to him to know if he had seen the hunt.

45889    And the man, as the story goes, was so crazed with fear that he could scarce speak, but at last he said that he had indeed seen the unhappy maiden, with the hounds upon her track.

45890    "But I have seen more than that," said he, "for Hugo Baskerville passed me upon his black mare, and there ran mute behind him such a hound of hell as God forbid should ever be at my heels."

45891    'So the drunken squires cursed the shepherd and rode onwards.

45892    But soon their skins turned cold, for there came a sound of galloping across the moor, and the black mare, dabbled with white froth, went past with trailing bridle and empty saddle.

45893    Then the revellers rode close together, for a great fear was on them, but they still followed over the moor, though each, had he been alone, would have been right glad to have turned his horse's head.

45894    Riding slowly in this fashion, they came at last upon the hounds.

45895    These, though known for their valour and their breed, were whimpering in a cluster at the head of a deep dip or goyal, as we call it, upon the moor, some slinking away and some, with starting hackles and staring eyes, gazing down the narrow valley before them.

45896    'The company had come to a halt, more sober men, as you may guess, than when they started.