CAPTAIN WARNER'S CLOSING SEASONS 145 



think that the education of a fox-hunter should not 

 rest here. 



" We cannot very well blame those who are 

 ignorant of the damage they do, but I fear we, who 

 think we know better, give very little thought to 

 the cracking of timber and the brushing through of 

 hedges in the excitement of the run. The same 

 timber and hedge will bear rude traces of our pro- 

 gress, and as the farmer walks round his fields in 

 the calm of the evening, there will be no pleasurable 

 excitement for him in contemplating the gaps." 



The Quorn had the run of the season on 20th 

 February, when, finding a fox in Curate's Gorse, 

 they crossed the vale and marked him to ground in 

 the Harby Hills. 



The fox was headed near the Parsons, and when 

 the pack swung sharply to the right up the steep 

 sides of Hickling Standard, more than half the field 

 overshot the mark and took no further part in the 

 run. To quote from my article at the time, " This 

 was a run when you were either quite happy or 

 perfectly miserable ; when at the finish a flood of 

 generous humour bubbled to your lips, or a sour 

 and crabbed smile closed your mouth in silence." 



Have just written of above as the " run of the 

 season," and no doubt it was until the Belvoir capped 

 it with one better on the following Saturday. I do 

 not think that there has ever been anything to beat 

 this in the whole annals of the Belvoir Hunt. This 

 pack had the largest slice of luck during the season, 

 and most of the sport was credited to them. 



Unfortunately for a large number of Meltoni- 

 ans, and incidentally the Field correspondent, the 

 meet was fixed for Scrimshaw's Mill, which is a 

 10 



