46 FOX-HOUND, FOREST, AND PRAIRIE. 



point of the run. The fences were blind, no doubt — very 

 blind. But they were big and fair, and horses rose at them to 

 jump as far as they could. In reality they were always very 

 much smaller than they appeared. They looked like green 

 walls, where often they were weak impositions — and if they 

 now and then happened to be the contrary, no strong binders 

 were visible to the timid eye. There was no real check till 

 near the Houghton Spinnies, when the pack suddenly found 

 themselves surrounded and baffled by herds of cattle. The run 

 had then lasted exactly an hour ; and the old fox beat them — 

 probability pointing strongly to his having hidden himself in 

 one of the wide overgrown ditches. 



KNEEDEEP ALREADY. 



Friday, October 20th, brought out a glaring sunshine to 

 succeed days of gloom and wet ; and gathered a throng — 

 almost a field — to see the Quorn work Barkby Holt. Not one 

 fox, but a dozen or more furnished occupation in turn. Hounds 

 stole away Avith the first flier, and drove him for some minutes 

 across the grass for Scraptoft, before they were stopped. After 

 this, each fresh-found member of the community was sent on 

 his way ; and finally the last one was fairly worked to death in 

 covert in the interests of education. Barkby Holt is a square 

 wood of just such a size and make as a fox-covert should be — 

 some fifty acres of brambly undergrowth, warm and dry. It is 

 big enough to prevent even a Leicestershire field from entirely 

 surrounding it ; while yet a huntsman can stand in the middle 

 and keep every corner within earshot. He is not likely to be 

 troubled with much company as he pounds about the inner 

 rides ; for they are almost knee-deep in yellow clay, and, if 

 avoided while men are clad in the neutral tints of October, 

 what will they be when the leaves are off and leathers are on ? 

 Far be it, though, from me to hint that any thought of appear- 

 ance will, after the rendezvous-parade has once been dismissed, 



