38.—THE PURSUIT.
Three or four couples waltz, and the leader, who is not dancing, calls other gentlemen to the floor, to act as rovers and rob the dancing gentlemen of their partners. A rover gets in front of a dancing couple and claps his hands, when the gentleman must relinquish his partner. He immediately seeks to indemnify himself, however, by securing one of the other ladies in a similar manner. This figure continues until each gentleman has again got possession of his lady to conduct her to her place. To execute this figure with all the animation required, it is necessary that as fast as each gentleman possesses himself of a lady another should replace him. The Pursuit is one of the final figures of the cotillion.