A SCRATCH DAY FROM T01VX. 283 



bills ! A ride to covert gives a charm to life (unless you ride 

 in the agony of a late start) ; a railway journey begets blue 

 devils. Hunting by train is — better than no hunting. That 

 is all. 



A fine hunting run came off Wednesday afternoon. We had 

 seen a fox well worked in the morning — an hour's circumlocu- 

 tion from Kilworth Sticks, till he found a rabbit hole in a 

 gravelpit near Welford. Then to the Hemplow. Foxes are 

 very lively at this period of an open season. So we plunged 

 down the precipitous hills directly we reached them. Straight 

 for South Kilworth. Men in the fields (every field) ; so we 

 veei-ed round to Welford and reached the Canal. Character of 

 this hunt was — strong and frequent jumping, steaming horses 

 ever close upon hounds, everybody in a hurry except a patient 

 huntsman. A fair working scent of which the lady pack made 

 the very most. This was a good gallop — though some may say 

 it was not straight enough, and others may urge it was not fast 

 enough, to please them. I can only say that had it been 

 straighter and faster, few would have seen it all. I, for one, 

 should probably have got no more than halfway. Not only 

 did every fence call for an effort, but the hills were distressing. 

 The first half hour brought us round by Welford Village, to 

 skirt the heights of Hemplow ; and then came the stout 

 country and steep hills of Elkington and Winwick. Now we 

 rode fence for fence as we did last year from Lord Spencer's 

 Covert, near West Haddon, and swung over the turnpike to 

 Guilsborou»h. 



The check that occurred after forty minutes found most 

 horses blowing, and gave our fox the breathing time that 

 probably saved him — cleverly though Goodall cast back from 

 the plough team. A mile or so previously a casualty befell two 

 of our hardest and heaviest riders, that looked positively awful 

 at the moment ; but, happily attended, I believe, with no 

 serious consequences to either men or horses. They galloped 

 at full speed over the precipitous side of a gravelpit ; and came 

 rolling over each other in appalling comminglement of scarlet 



