CAPTAIN BURNS-HARTOPP 165 



was quite as happy as the man who had provided 

 us with the material. 



On that last Monday in December, Walter Kyte 

 started as huntsman to the Quorn, and though there 

 was very little scent I thought he made a promising 

 maiden effort. 



I think the Quorn run of 23rd January from 

 Welby Osierbeds was the best of the season. 

 Hounds ran straight by Melton and Saxby to 

 Stapleford, which is in itself a six-mile point ; but 

 that was only half of the run. I thought at the 

 time there must have been a change of foxes some- 

 where about this stage, as the pace had been very 

 hot most of the time, and there had been no delays, 

 so that it is almost impossible to conceive one 

 animal making a farther seven-mile point. Near 

 Laxton's covert, hounds were in difficulties ; but 

 Kyte recovered the line, when we galloped on by 

 Berry Gorse and Wheathills to Little Dalby. Here 

 there were several holloas, but in the absence of 

 any reliable evidence as to which was right, the 

 huntsman very wisely left it to the pack. Some 

 slow hunting then led us by the Punchbowl and 

 Burrough Hill Wood to Thorpe Satchville, where 

 the fox had very considerately waited, and then 

 hounds ran very fast down the valley to Ashby 

 Folville. Swinging uphill again to the Pastures, 

 they drove him through that covert, and killed 

 him two fields beyond. 



The huntsman was, of course, entitled to con- 

 sider that he killed the fox he started with, as no 

 other covert was drawn ; but my idea was that we 

 picked up the line of one that had been disturbed 

 somewhere in the neighbourhood of Laxton's 



