60 MEMORIES OF THE SHIRES 



keep near hounds. Then came some plough, which 

 brought the pack to their noses ; but Firr held them 

 forward on to the grass, and leaving Melton Spinney 

 on the right they ran straight away to Freeby Wood. 

 The fox evidently meant going on, but unluckily 

 one sportsman was a little too forward and turned 

 him back into covert. The remainder of the run 

 was slow hunting, and it was only by an excep- 

 tionally fine bit of science that Firr was able to hold 

 on to his fox. Back we went across the valley of 

 the Melton brook and past Chadwell, then between 

 Scalford and Goadby a halloa put us on better 

 terms. The pace increased again, hounds were 

 bristhng for blood, and the next two miles it was all 

 we could do to keep them in sight. Leaving 

 Clawson Thorns just on the left, the pack running 

 from scent to view rolled over one of the stoutest 

 foxes I have ever seen hunted. It was two hours 

 and fifteen minutes from the find, and most of the 

 time hounds had been running fast. I remember 

 there was a general exclamation of "Of course, it 

 is not the same fox." Firr said nothing, but held 

 up a three-inch stump of brush. We had started 

 with a " bob-tailed " fox and we finished with one ; 

 but there are people who will always say there has 

 been a change, and had not they been silenced by 

 the short brush, the huntsman's truimph would 

 have been disputed by their loud-voiced opinions. 



I have mentioned this run because it is one of 

 my earUest impressions of Firr's wonderful skill 

 and patience. There was a good scent on the grass, 

 but very little on the plough, and I know no other 

 man who would have brought that fox to hand 

 under similar conditions. 



