1 66 



LEAVES FROM A HUNTING DIARY 



Found at once in Mark Hall. Short, sharp and decisive. Mr. Ford 

 Barclay fairly earned the brush, for he was first up when the lady pack 

 pulled their fox down in the park within the five minutes. 



For Parndon Woods next, and en route " the Pollard Tree," in which for 

 years a noted old fox had taken refuge. Would he be at home ? Not till 

 the baiUff came up could they mark the spot, the single tree in the grass 

 meadows near the farm. " There he is !" shouted Mr. Sewell, as the old 

 grey customer came bundhng down, and with only a field start of hounds 

 and a scent on the grass he had to make tracks for it. Fences came thick 

 and fast, two roads and a lane being crossed in point-to-point fashion (Mr. 

 Grossman on his bay, closely followed by his wife on her wonderful pony, 

 cutting out the work on the left) ere we struck across Harlow Common and 

 reached Latton Covert in nine glowing minutes. All were dehghted with 



A Ride in Mark Hall Wood 



this sparkling gallop. In Latton Park we changed, and by the time we 

 were away from Harlow Park for a nice little hunt by Weald Coppice and 

 Rough Talleys, Captain and Mrs. Bruce, Mr. H. J. Miller, and young Mr. 

 Hart had joined our ranks. It was close on 3 p.m. before we reached 

 Parndon Woods, and several, including Mr, and Mrs. Grossman, Mrs. 

 Waters, Mr. Price, Mr. Miller, had left us. 



With what lightning speed a hound dashes through a covert when it 

 first gets a view of a fox, Mrs. Bruce had ocular proof at the top end of the 

 middle wood. Back through both and out towards Netteswell, half-a-dozen 

 fields brought hounds to their noses at the identical Pollard Tree we had 

 already driven a fox from in the morning ; but he was on and over the 

 plough by Fern Hills to Latton, where, finding no comrade to assist him as 

 he ran the circuit of the covert, he slipped out at the back of the " Sun and 



