REMINISCENCES 109 



111 November, 1919, the Blencathra Hounds, 

 after a good hunt above St. John' s-in-the- Vale, 

 put their fox to ground in a narrow fissure of rock 

 near the summit of Wanthwaite. A terrier was 

 put in, and after a pitched battle, the dog accounted 

 for the fox, but refused to leave the carcass. 

 Darkness was coming on, so huntsman and field 

 had reluctantly to leave the spot in order to make 

 the difficult descent to the dale. Next morning 

 the huntsman and whipper-in returned to the 

 place, and found the carcass of the fox, with the 

 terrier lying dead beside it, outside the " borran." 

 The fox had inflicted severe, if not fatal, injuries 

 on the game little dog, and the latter, having 

 dragged the body of his foe from underground, had 

 still refused to leave it, and had so perished from 

 exposure during a bitterly cold night. 



I was out one day when the Coniston Hounds 

 ran a fox to ground near Dod Bields, in Caiston. 

 A terrier was put in, and after a stiff fight, the fox 

 was accounted for underground. Several hours' 

 hard work failed to secure the carcass, so as day- 

 light had given place to moonlight, we made our 

 way across the summit of Red Screes, and so down 

 to the " Traveller's Rest " at the head of the 

 Kirkstone Pass. Next day several willing hunters 

 returned to the place, and after much labour, 

 unearthed not 07ie dead fox, but two. Both foxes 

 were jammed up close to the end of a narrow 



