142 MEMORIES OF THE SHIRES 



educational work both in covert and the open. 

 Several enjoyable little gallops were fully appre- 

 ciated by the early risers ; but there was no run 

 of any distinction, though perhaps I should make 

 exception of the day the Quorn ran from Scraptoft 

 to Great Dalby. 



This was i6th October, and it is not often a fox 

 makes a seven-mile point at that time of the year. 

 The line included the cream of the Friday country, 

 which means the best in the world. I remember 

 most of the fences were feasible, although they 

 appeared rather forbidding clothed fully in their 

 summer foliage. The brook about midway between 

 Ashby and Twyford obliged us to leave the pack 

 whilst we found a place to cross, and we never 

 really caught them again until they reached Thorpe 

 Trussells. The fox was viewed near Great Dalby, 

 but Firr's horse was beat, and the master very 

 reluctantly gave the order to stop hounds. I had 

 forgotten this run until refreshing my memory 

 with reading the Field account, and thinking it 

 over now I come to the conclusion that it was 

 quite one of the best in my experience. Neither 

 the master nor any of the hunt staff had any in- 

 tention of pursuing an old fox, and it was one of 

 those lucky mistakes by which the field profit. 

 Previous to drawing Scraptoft, a brace of cubs 

 had been killed in Botany Bay, and as hounds had 

 spent a hard morning in covert they were to be 

 allowed in the open as a little relaxation. 



Unless my memory fails there was a strong 

 litter in Scraptoft Gorse, and when a cub crossed 

 the intervening field to the Spinney hounds were 

 allowed to follow him. They must then have 



