WITH THE PYTCHLEY 181 



Even a sprinkling of the familiar faces of old days in 

 the Grass Countries were there, and chiefest perhaps, 

 " Brooksby," the perennial, whose occupation's o'er 

 since then. 



That there were changes I admit ; the most notice- 

 able, no doubt, being the motor-cars. There were, 

 too, more habits in the field than of yore, still of these 

 we had a fair share in 1891. Also the young gentle- 

 man, who rode up and proposed to relieve the stranger 

 of a couple of sovereigns, was — in that capacity, for 

 he was Secretary as well as highwayman — a novelty. 

 But for the rest, the scene — at Brock Hall, to be 

 exact — was much the same. For the Bed Earl, read 

 Lord Annaly ; for poor Goodall, Frank Freeman — 

 a promising huntsman, but with something to learn 

 before he can fill Will's boots ; and the picture is 

 complete. 



As for sport, my luck, as usual, was out. The 

 Pytchley almost made a record by drawing covert 

 after covert blank till two o'clock, when the lower 

 clump at Brington produced the desired article. They 

 rattled him to Althorp Park Station, and then swung 

 left-handed to kill him in Brington Village. Nor 

 was later sport better ; besides, I had a train to catch. 

 I had, however, an interesting talk with the man 

 riding my second horse, who turned out to be an 

 ex-stableman of Lord Spencer's day at the kennels, 

 and who somewhat surprised me by describing some 

 of the occasions on which he had, by Goodall's orders, 

 turned down a fox in the covert, where the un- 

 suspecting White-collars shortly afterwards saw him 

 " found." Let me not be misunderstood : these were 

 native foxes, knowing the country. But it appears 

 that if there were any doubts about finding, my 



