CAPTAIN BURNS-HARTOPP 173 



Wood when the close attendants were very Hmited 

 and select. These are only a few of the good 

 things that I have picked out ; but it appears to me 

 there was good sport every day. 



Rumours of Mr. Baird's resignation of the Cottes- 

 more had been floating about for some time ; but 

 it was about this date that the rumours were con- 

 firmed, and I know all those who had hunted with 

 him were sorry he was leaving. 



Both January and February were good scenting 

 months, and all three packs enjoyed a long spell of 

 first-rate sport. The Bel voir had a very good day 

 on the first Saturday in March, racing over the 

 vale and catching their fox. Then, again, the 

 same pack had a good day at the end of the 

 month. 



Five-and-twenty minutes over the vale with a 

 kill in the open during the morning and an excep- 

 tionally nice gallop in the evening, the latter part 

 of which, from Clawson Thorns to Hose Gorse, was 

 first class. For some reason the crowd had grown 

 weary, and when Capell, catching a view of his 

 fox going away from Clawson Thorns, with the 

 pack close at his brush, barely a dozen men followed 

 him. The line at first was along the hillside in 

 the direction of Piper Hole Gorse ; but the fox 

 suddenly remembered the earths in the covert 

 he had started from and dropped down into the 

 vale. With hounds racing over the best of grass 

 and no crowd to jostle, that little gallop was to 

 me one of the most enjoyable moments of the 

 season. 



The Quorn wound up the season in great style, 

 and the John o' Gaunt run of 12th April I shall 



