He did not at once follow into the briars, but ran around them, in order to discover at what point the 'possum had hid herself.

He was not without apprehensions that _she might have a hole there_.

If so, good-bye to both hare and 'possum, thought he.
It appeared not, however; for, after a few circlings around the patch, he was seen to dash boldly in.
For some time nothing could be seen of either lynx or 'possum.

The patch covered only a few yards of the prairie, but it was a regular "brake," with vines, briars, and thistles, thickly interwoven and canopied with leaves.

Neither uttered any noise; but the motion of the leaves, and of the brambles at different points, told that a hot pursuit was going on underneath--the pursued no doubt baffling the pursuer, by her body being much smaller and better adapted for squeezing through narrow places.
For some minutes this curious chase was kept up.