472 FOX-HOUND, FOREST, AND PRAIRIE. 



I think 1 am right in saying that this part of our wide, merry 

 circle was the cheeriest and fastest of all. On the ploughs 

 beyond Tally-ho hounds checked for some moments ; but ere 

 we reached Naseby Covert again (just an hour from the find) 

 every horse had his lungs working at high pressure, and every 

 rein was wet and slippery with the damp of exertion. Yet 

 horses are fit and muscular now as the winter is likely to find 

 them ; and the upper ground we had crossed had none of 

 the stickiness of Naseby field. The brook beneath Tally-ho, 

 and the timber-built fences roundabout, were very delectable 

 jumping, and, say what you will, by no means the worst of 

 Northamptonshire is the going quickly and gaily from one green 

 field into another. Else would Brighton Downs command a 

 crowd, or the Craven be one of the popular Hunts of the 

 kingdom. And this glorious attribute must be maintained, 

 this priceless characteristic must not be marred, whatever the 

 cost, whatever the effort, on the part of all to whom country life 

 is of value. But this can be effected only by combination, and 

 on a basis broader than any yet promulgated. To continue my 

 story : — The Naseby fox had made his way right through the 

 covert, and also through the spinney of Longhold beyond — 

 hounds driving him, with their bristles up, nearly to Clipston 

 Village. Now came the luckless part of the run. A fresh fox, 

 it seems, almost met hounds face to face at the Clipston road. 

 Their utterly beaten fox crawled the hedges for the next half- 

 hour, unable to leave the immediate vicinity. But, albeit 

 Goodall got back to his line at length, he failed to pick him 

 up on the foiled ground — though told afterwards by a labourer 

 that " all the while he was watching the fox lying down in a 

 double hedgerow ; but dursn't holloa for fear he should be 

 doing wrong." A wholesome principle, but in this new instance 

 acted upon with a result that robbed a fine run of its merited 

 finish. 



Then of that quick ring of the afternoon, when for 45 minutes 

 we were bustling, tearing, straining on — whirling round till we 

 were fairly giddy. Again it was from the little gorse of Berry- 



