Black Beauty, Part 2 summary

What happens

1. The narrator and the other colts hear hounds and gather by the hedge to watch a hunt.
2. The hounds briefly lose the scent, then chase a frightened hare across the brook and kill her.
3. Two horses fall at the crossing, and one rider lies motionless with a broken neck.
4. The narrator’s mother questions hunting but rejects a colt’s claim that the dead rider deserves his fate.
5. The master helps the rider, George Gordon, while Mr. Bond examines Rob Roy, whose broken leg leads to his shooting.
6. The mother avoids the place where Rob Roy dies, and the narrator watches George Gordon’s funeral procession.

What to notice

The narrator sets the deaths and grief against the small animal pursued. The line sums up his distress at the hunt’s cost.

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