28 LEAVES FROM A HUNTING DIARY 



couple of hounds, but it is a rare thing to force a fox through it, and into 

 the open beyond— though we have seen it done, and have the mask of a 

 fox who was killed in this way many years ago— in Col. Howard's time — 

 a real three-year-old customer. 



Now what about the little spin from Latton Park in the evening over 

 the steeplechase course ? (i) Very few stayed out for it, the Hertfordshire 

 contingent having left early for the Hatfield Ball. (2) In spite oi its 

 untimely ending, the fox getting hurt in a fence (he was best killed), it was 

 worth all the rest of the day put together. Say what you like, the majority 

 of us love the pace when hounds fling forward at such a tune over the 

 grass that gallop your hardest you cannot gain a yard on them. They 

 didn't do it that night, but went very near it, having scored a good start. 

 When they left Latton, they made the best of it, and fences had to be 

 taken flying if you would have seen the fox pulled down just short of 

 Weald Coppice. 



" Who-hoop," at the finish ; each hound in his place, 



What more could a sportsman require ? 



The huntsman replied, with a smile on his face. 



When asked for the time of this wonderful race, 

 ' The pace was too good to inquire.' " Phillpotts Williams. 



I am afraid the pace was too good to stop for the man who was dragged 

 by his horse after he was once clear, with a happy smile on his face — a 

 smile of thankfulness at happy release from a great danger. Someone was 

 pulled off at the last fence, a pretty thick bullfinch, which Messrs. W^ 

 Sewell, Mr. Evans, and Captain Bruce pierced in order named. Two 

 ladies were at the tail of the hounds in this last and rapid burst, Miss 

 Morgan and No, I mustn't tell you ; but she was riding a lovely little 



bay ! 



Saturday, January nth, at Moreton.— For a week past the probable 

 draw from this particular fixture had been discussed in all its bearings. 

 Men talked about it with bated breath going up in the train, and harped 

 upon it coming down. Two hard riders, almost coming to blows over it, 

 and eventually lapsing into despair of guessing the conundrum, gave it up, 

 resolved at all hazards to ride to the meet and see. Personally, my own 

 impressions may be guessed by the orders given to my second-horse man : 

 " Leave home at twelve, come to the meet, and follow them up." 



It was as well, for the draw took many by surprise : a retrograde 

 movement of four or five miles in the direction of Chelmsford, from which 

 so many hailed, having to be executed before the surprise packet was 

 opened beyond the slippery bridge at Forest Hall. This time the Forest 

 Hall run did not come off, worse luck ; it is even doubtful whether the fox 

 we ran from there a fortnight before still lives, for hounds pressed him very 

 hard at the beginning and end of the run to Belgium Springs. 



When we arrived at Screens we discovered for the first time how bad 

 scent was in covert, and this may easily account for our not having found 

 before. With a brace of foxes in front of them hounds could scarcely 

 speak to either, but would probably have killed one if he hadn't taken 

 refuge in a tree, judging by the pace they raced him across Screens Park. 



At Garnish scent was, if anything, worse, and hounds had actually left 

 the covert when a lynx-eyed sportsman, =■= whom no one would believe until 

 he had taken his oath to it, swore he had seen a fox cross the ride. The 

 huntsman came galloping back, hounds tuned up, and away we went in 

 the direction of Lords and Leaden. No run worth mentioning came of it. 



* Mr. T. Simonds. 



