2 8o LEAVES FROM A HUNTING DIARY 



sister, Mr. C. E. Green, Miss M. Green, Mr. J. Swire, Mr. Seymour 

 Caldwell, Mr. N. Gilbey and his son, Mr. R. C. Lyall, Mr. Tyndale T^lte, 

 Mr. John White, Mr. Ford Barclay, Mr. J. Todhunter, Dr. Love, Mr. 

 Christie. 



A move was first made to Pinnacles without finding, and then to 

 Roydon Grove and Tattle Bushes. In the latter covert there was a fox 

 that did not wait to be found, and his exit was not discovered until hounds 

 were being blown out of covert. Only those who were lucky enough to be 

 in or very near the covert when hounds found had the chance of a start. 

 Mr. Arkwright, Mr. R. Bury, Mr. Tyndale White, Mrs. Arkwright, young 

 John White, Mr. A. Giles, Mr. T, R. Hull, and Mr. V. Nickalls were 

 among the lucky few. Hounds came away at a great pace and crossed the 

 Low Hill Road, running on towards Mr. Bury's. Immediately after we 

 had crossed the Low Hill Road we were pulled up by a locked gate which 

 everyone crowded round. Mr. Nickalls, however, managed to squeeze 

 through the press, and his good roan horse jumped the gate at a stand, 

 giving him a lead which no one would have wrested from him had hounds 

 run on instead of being pulled up some half-a-dozen fields further on just 

 as they had fairly embarked on a most lovely country. It was bad luck for 

 him, and bad luck also for all those who squeezed through the gate 

 afterwards when John White had fetched it off its hinges— that what 

 promised to be such a good run was so quickly nipped in the bud. 



Our next move was to the Policies around Nasing Park, Here we 

 found but could not get the fox away ; bad luck also attended our third 

 venture at Nasing Coppice, a fine fox getting to ground within a field of 

 the covert. Going to Galley Hills, after running on the line of a fox nearly 

 up to Shatter Bushes, hounds found at once, the fox most accommodatingly 

 breaking in full view of us all, as we waited at the bottom end near 

 Monkhams Lane. No one could complain about getting a bad start, but 

 how many, ere the run was over, had failed to keep the place they had 

 started with. 



Running past Mr. Dewey's Farm we surged down the first grass field. 

 Mr. V. Nickalls did not wait to open the gate out of it, but at once jumped 

 the fence, which Mr. Ford Barclay and a few others flew on his left (the 

 gate, it turns out, was fastened, and this threw a good many behind). 

 Hounds ran fast up to Shatter Bushes, through that covert, and away 

 towards Nasing Coppice, Mr. V. Nickalls again scoring as he jumped a 

 high rail out of the lane near Deer Park (no one caring to follow his 

 chestnut's lead). Riding on with Mr. H. J. Price and others towards the 

 Coppice, over ground cruelly heavy, we had hounds on our right, and very 

 soon they came right across us, as our fox had turned back for Galley Hills ; 

 not entering this covert, he went away down the hill, crossing the road 

 near Nasing Schools, Mr. Nickalls once more being the quickest to get to 

 them as they ran on at a great pace towards Mr. Bury's fagot stack. 



Just short of St. Leonards the fox swung to the left through Mr. Bury's 

 gorse, and went a rare bat up to Galley Hills, Mr. V. Nickalls being first 

 into the covert with hounds, followed by the huntsman, and first whip, Mr. 

 Arkwright and Miss Peel. Few others were near them when they left this 

 covert (for it was sobbing work for horses up to and through Galley Hill, 

 and many had to ease their horses) and went away for Shatter Bushes, 

 hanging a bit after the first two or three fields ; one or two more, including 

 Mr. D. Grossman and young John White, joined the ranks. After leaving 

 Claveringbury Farm behind we had a couple of fields up hill, and Mr. 

 Nickalls' chestnut could no longer go as before, though he still kept plug- 

 ging on. Arkwright, who, fortunately for him, had just secured his second 



