172 HUNTING REMINISCENCES 



markings, measuring under sixteen hands. A good- 

 sized field started to ride the run, which was a ten- 

 mile point from Waltham Limekilns to the kill, 

 but very few got to the end of it, for the brook at 

 Garthorpe caused a lot of grief. 



In summing up the merits of the season, Gillard 

 remarked, " I never knew the Belvoir vale to ride 

 so holding, the ground was somewhat dried on the 

 top, so that horses could hardly lift their feet out 

 of the dirt." The number of days registered was 137, 

 with 113 foxes killed, and 36 marked to ground. 



SEASON 1883-84 



Owing to the wet summer, harvest opera- 

 tions were very late, hardly any corn being 

 "stouked" by September 1st, consequently hounds 

 did not begin cubbing quite so soon as in 

 former years. The season was remarkable for its 

 nice hunting weather, hounds being stopped but 

 three days for frost and fog. This fact was all the 

 more trying for Gillard, who had the misfortune to 

 break his leg at the end of October and was in 

 consequence laid by until January 8th, the hounds 

 being hunted in the meantime by Arthur Wilson, 

 the first whipper-in. The accident happened as 

 follows : On October 23rd, after a hard morning's 

 cub-hunting, Gillard was vanning the hounds home 

 from Grantham in company with George Champion, 

 who had come to take the autumn draft from 

 Belvoir to the Duke of Richmond and Gordon's 

 kennel at Goodwood. The van full of hounds, with 



