A FOXHUNTING JOURNAL 29 



never owned a trivet myself — only a greyhound and a 

 disreputable black cat." 



Thompson had out a mixed pack of twenty and a half 

 couples of as nice-looking hounds as I ever had the good 

 fortune to ride behind; but conditions were against us by 

 the time we reached the first covert, as a high, cold wind 

 sprang up at ten o'clock. Hounds had many blank draws, 

 but pushed on northward until finally Jack Potter, the first 

 whipper-in, viewed a fox away from Young's Wood with 

 hounds right on his brush. They fairly flew, giving us a 

 fifteen-minute gallop over a beautiful line of grass country 

 to earth on the hillside back of the Poor House. Hounds 

 were marking their fox well to ground, when we came up. 



"Homespun" came to grief with Mr. Kerr right at the 

 start; but they were up and going again immediately and 

 none the worse for wear. 



The field was small, which adds so much to one's 

 pleasure, including only the Master; Miss Josephine 

 Mather; Miss Dorothy Mather; Mr. Kerr; Gilbert Mather; 

 and a couple of farmer friends. 



Friday, iyd January, 1914 

 After having drawn the Radnor Barrens and Hospital 

 Farm blank, we met Serrill's hounds at Newtown Square, 

 and, joining forces, crossed the Pike into Mr. Vauclain's 

 meadow, where hounds went away at once, giving volumes 

 of tongue through the tall grass, when, to our surprise, a 

 black cat was viewed away, fairly sailing over the next 

 field with a fox not fifty yards behind it. Mr. Cat went to 

 earth or a tree, but the fox was a straight-necked chap, 

 for he pointed to Snakehouse, but, keeping it on his left, 

 led hounds with a catchy scent to Trimble's Hollow, where 

 scent improved wonderfully, hounds racing at top speed 



