272 GUN, RIFLE, AND HOUND. 



well known to be a different thing from Irish ; and on 

 this occasion vulpine eviction proved a failure. 



We had a longish trot before we again heard 

 hounds. Very unexpectedly they crossed the line of 

 a travelling fox on East Haddon Hill, and, passing 

 the very spot where the victim of a horrible murder 

 has since been found (was it not by a whip of this 

 very pack, and by a fox-terrier of the Master's ?), we 

 clattered down the road to the railway arch at Althorp 

 Park station. 



Hounds had slipped away so suddenly that it was 

 some time ere the long cavalcade on the high-road 

 became aware of the fact, and in that procession I was 

 rather near the tail. Consequently, my start this time 

 was as bad as it had been good the first. 



Being a stranger in the land, I am a little doubtful 

 if I give the points correctly. Was it Althorp station 

 where we first crossed the line ? All I know is that 

 hounds ran fast, twice crossing the line to the south- 

 ward, and once back again under a culvert to the 

 north side, but it was not till we left this always 

 unpleasant accompaniment to fox-hunting that I got 

 fairly on terms with the pack, then fleeting mutely up 

 a bank covered with small enclosures divided by big 

 fences. 



Church Brampton was the name of the village on 

 that bank, I believe, but we left it a little to the right. 

 The fox was pointing towards the dark woods of 

 Harlastone, and fast as hounds ran, he beat them 

 there and saved his brush. But for the good start 



