THE BLANK DAY . 283 



as glen and ravine were searched with equal want of 

 success. Yet the ladies — several of them, regardless 

 of change of complexion and transfer of colour from 

 cheek to nose — braved it well, and sooner than accept 

 a blank day followed on in support of the M.F.H. to 

 the biggest woodland in the country, where we suffer, 

 as a rule, from a superabundance of foxes. It was 

 colder still, and horses' coats were staring when we 

 got there. Halting on the road above the wood, 

 we listened intently for the opening note — sure of that 

 at least, though we hardly expected a gallop in the 

 open. Alas, it never came ! A puppy caught in thick 

 briars (as we afterwards heard) gave vent to a howl, 

 which caused men to look at their watches and say, 

 " At last ! " but there was no repetition of the sound. 

 Despair took possession of our souls, and a most 

 miserable party shortly afterwards dispersed to 

 respective homes, the hounds — poor things ! — looking 

 perhaps the most dejected members of the hunting 

 community. Truly we had experienced in their full 

 bitterness the miseries of a blank day. 



Some years ago a blank day was saved by our 

 finding a fox in the very last covert in the stop ; he 

 ran back till he almost reached the fence of a gorse 

 covert we had drawn in the morning, where he got 

 to ground in a big stone drain just outside the covert. 

 A terrier was put in at the other end, when out came 

 our hunted friend, followed immediately by three 

 others. Of course, there is no doubt that on wild 

 nights foxes are often stopped in, particularly in 

 gorse coverts where the gorse has grown hollow and 

 open, when the long stems rattle and shake and give, 



