200 MEMORIES OF THE SHIRES 



right and climbed the hill towards Melton ; but his 

 bolt was shot, and hounds ran into him at Little 

 Dalby. This I consider a run that is worth recall- 

 ing, equally for the stamina of the fox, the per- 

 severance of hounds, and the skill with which 

 their huntsman handled them. Scent was not first 

 class, but it was of a good holding variety, hounds 

 never lost any time and ran very fast occasionally, 

 so that for a fox to stand up for an hour and thirty 

 minutes was a marvellous feat of endurance. A 

 fox of this kind would run hounds out of scent 

 nine days out of ten. 



This was Bishopp's last season with the 

 Quorn, and of the many good runs which he 

 brought to a successful conclusion I think he will 

 look back on 21st February as his happiest per- 

 formance. 



According to all precedent the Quorn should 

 have had their opening meet on the first Monday 

 in November ; but for some reason it was deferred 

 in 1908 to the following week — it may have been 

 hard ground, though I can't remember. That 

 first of the month was, however, a day to remember, 

 as finding a fox in a turnip field near Thrussington 

 they killed him at Widmerpool after an ex- 

 ceptionally brilUant gallop. The new huntsman, 

 George Leaf, thus made an excellent impression, 

 both in the way he handled hounds and in his 

 quickness in riding across country. 



The best sport of that season was in the first 

 month, and the remainder was only moderate, 

 though all three packs enjoyed some nice gallops 

 at end of March 1909. 



According to my summary of '09-' 10 it was a 



