THE BILLESDON HUNT. 13 



In the dark. Many of the routes are through 

 fields, some of which are only bridle-roads, 

 puzzling in the extreme to novices by day- 

 light, unless they have made some advance 

 in local geography, and that added to a 

 little nautical observation, so as to distin- 

 guish north from south and east from west, 

 though that will not avail them wdien the 

 shades of evenincr have set in. Slawston 



o 



windmill and Billesdon Coplow are accept- 

 able landmarks while daylight lasts. 

 There are some guide-posts, it is true, 

 but their indications are often so vao^ue 

 and perplexing as to be useless, while in 

 the dark they are unavailable. These diffi- 

 culties are in some degree overcome by the 

 agency of railways ; but in olden times, be- 

 fore they were in existence, a stranger ex- 

 perienced great difficulty in steering his 

 course to Melton In the dark, from Rolle- 

 stone, Keythorpe, or any of those parts. 

 The preliminary arrangements having 



