149 



refreshed by his bath, away he goes, and eighteen couple 

 of hounds are in full chorus behind him. Torloisk is 

 his point, which he reaches in safety, but not much to 

 spare, and here it must be a moot point whether we 

 changed foxes or not — at all events, the hounds were 

 never for an instant off the line, it may be of a fresh, 

 but I am inclined to think of our hunted fox, and taking 

 it right through the covert, race away through Milldean 

 Strips to Eameldrie. Here there was a slight check, but 

 scarcely more than sufficient to allow of their carrying 

 the scent through this thick covert of gorse and broom. 

 When gallantly breasting the hill, it seemed at first as if 

 they were making for Downfield or the Lime-works, 

 but, suddenly turning north, he made again for the low 

 country, and, sinking the hill, ran down straight to 

 Bamornie. The turn was so short, that only three 

 horsemen, viz., the Master, Col. Babington, and Mr. 

 William Blackwood — who happened to get the direction 

 the hounds had taken from the signals of a ploughman — 

 were left in pursuit, and, let it be added, never fairly 

 caught them. Through M elville woods and Park, close 

 by the house and through the garden, this straight- 

 necked fox held on till past Lindores, Dunbog, and 

 Glenduckie. This wonderful chase came to an end on 

 the banks of the Tay. Whether the hounds killed their 

 quarry or not will never be known, but it will be 

 remembered for many a long day, that Colonel 

 Anstruther Thomson found a fox on the banks of the 

 Forth and ran him to the banks of the Tay ; and though 

 he did not return home laden with the spoils of his 

 enemy, still J venture to think that the chase of Novem- 

 ber 30th, 1877, will deservedly hold a very high place 

 among his other great achievements. 



HiSTOEY OF THE FlFE EOXHOUNDS. 



