102 MEMORIES OF THE SHIRES 



was a late afternoon with the Belvoir, and whilst 

 Gillard was drawing Brentingby Spinney, the field 

 remained on the up-wind side. There was prob- 

 ably a certain amount of coffee-housing, and then 

 it suddenly dawned on us, as the buzz of conver- 

 sation lulled, that not the faintest sound of Gillard's 

 familiar voice disturbed the peaceful quietness of 

 the afternoon. Some one said, "They've gone away," 

 and then a sudden panic seized the cavalcade. Off 

 we went across the turnpike at top speed, and down 

 the valley towards Thorpe, then straight away to 

 Melton Spinney. I think the wraiths of former 

 hunts must have walked abroad that day, or we 

 were all in very imaginative moods, for first one 

 and then the other would exclaim, " Yonder they 

 go ! " and that, of course, spurred us to greater 

 efforts. 



On reaching the Spinney I happened to look back, 

 and there was Gillard with hounds at his heels 

 trotting quietly on the bridle-road — they had not 

 even found. 



I cannot recall any fellow culprits now, but Lord 

 Henry Bentinck was one and Mr. Weston Jarvis 

 another. 



Frost stopped hunting for several days both in 

 January and February, but when hounds could get 

 out, they had some very fair sport. The Belvoir 

 had a capital forty-five minutes, and killed their 

 fox on 5th March, whilst the other packs did equally 

 well. Then there was another spell of frost and 

 snow, so that it was not till the end of the month 

 that hunting was again in full swing. 



The last week or two — we went on to the second 

 week of April — of the season were really brilliant, and 



