SEASON 1878-79 123 



The meet of the Belvoir was at Plungar on a cold 

 foggy morning, and after dallying with a bad fox 

 at Harby Covert, a good one was set going from 

 Hose Thorns, giving a regular Leicestershire burst 

 of thirty minutes by Hickling to the Curates Gorse 

 on Quorn soil. It was fully thirty minutes before 

 hounds could set their fox going again from the 

 covert where he had lain down in the thick tangle, 

 obliterating all trace of scent. In the meantime 

 the master came into the covert and requested 

 that the Belvoir hounds be taken out to let the 

 Quorn come in. Such a request was against all 

 the canons of sport, and could only have originated 

 after a trying morning spent with a bad scenting 

 fox, which had been the lot of the Quorn. Gillard 

 declined to go, saying that it was no use his being 

 so early beaten off by such an unreasonable request, 

 for he was sure his hounds would stick to their run 

 fox in spite of Quorn whip-cord. The fox must 

 have heard the squall, for the next moment 

 Cottrell's scream proclaimed him away in the 

 direction of Willoughby with the pack not far 

 behind his brush. A little farther on Gillard got a 

 view of his hunted one with back arched and brush 

 dragging. "Is that a run fox?" he asked of 

 Captain Pennell Elmhirst who happened to be 

 nearest to him, and there was no gainsaying the 

 fact, for hounds pulled him down fairly in the 

 open before they had gone a mile. Whilst the 

 obsequies were performed, both fields drew up, 

 having enjoyed the sport together ; so all's well that 

 ends well, and may both packs flourish for many a 



