p:ssex brooks 27 



about a mile at the pace was enough for him, and, sinking the wind, soon 

 completed what might be called the inner circle of this run. Past Orange 

 Wood again, by which time all those who had got a good start, and all 

 who had got a bad one, and those who had not got a start at all 

 and had not wanted one, were pretty well on equal terms. Crossing the 

 road over a razor bank, a tail hound did his best to upset Firr by entangling 

 himself in his horse's leg ; but a good scramble and they were both all 

 right. Turning to the left, past Hunters' Hall, hounds could hunt but 

 slowly as scent was catchy ; but the fields were small, so the fences came 

 fast and thick enough until Nasing Coppice was reached. The fox was 

 viewed here, but, seemingly havmg had enough of woods, he left Nasing 

 Coppice on his right, and turned towards Nasing. Hounds ran very fast 

 over the grass fields near Nasing ; but an ominous cry from Bailey of 

 " 'Ware wire, gentlemen ! "* made us cautious enough to take the fences 

 after him. 



When we came up to Galley Hill scent failed ; so Bailey made a long 

 cast in the direction of Maries, and, hitting off the hne, hounds carried it 

 over Cobbins Brook once more. The crossing at that point occupied some 

 time, and caused no little amusement ; for a man in black, who seemed 

 to know all about it, piloted the field into and round several bends in it. 

 I may as well here mention, for the benefit of your readers who do not know 

 the Essex brooks, that they have nearly always sound gravelly bottoms, 

 with deep pools here and there ; but the banks being generally, as I once 

 heard a whip say, very " underminded," and rather too far apart (the latter 

 impediment is not uncommon in other countries, I believe), make them 

 nearly always unjumpable. The Cobbins Brook is no exception, and is 

 best got over by sliding down and scrambling up. To return to the man 

 in black, he led us on until (fortunately for those who felt nervous about 

 their swimming powers) he was pulled up by a post and rails, and with 

 perpendicular banks on each side about ten feet high, it was a case of right 

 about face. But at last a place was found which could be managed on a 

 clever horse, and some bushes being pulled out near a cattle-drinking place 

 the remainder were able to get over. Hounds, however, were unable to 

 own to the line much further, and it was given up close to where the find 

 took place, thus nearly completing the outer circle. Time, one hour twenty 

 minutes. Another fox was found in Deer Park, and, after a sharp twenty- 

 five minutes, was run to ground in a drain. He was bolted, and got clean 

 away from the hounds, who were close to him, but getting into a drain 

 again his second bolt was not so successful; "whoop" and the shades of 

 night brought the day's sport to an end. 



Arriving at the meet at Moreton on Wednesday, December 14th, 1881, 

 one found everybody discussing the good sport the hounds had been showing 

 lately. Only the Monday previous, when they met at Swallow's Cross, 

 they had a very fast forty minutes and ran into their fox, the pace being 

 so fast that no one could live with them, Bailey being the nearest, and he, 

 according to my informant, two fields behind. The dog pack were evidently 

 very keen after the extraordinary run which they had two days before, in 

 which I am told that hounds ran one fox an hour and fifty minutes, with 

 only one check of two minutes among some cattle, and pulled him down in 

 the open, every hound up. The first to get hold of him was the puppy 

 hound Chanticleer, which the Master himself had walked. The distance 

 covered was between twenty-one and twenty-four miles, though probably 



* We had to thank Mr. Charles Bury for getting this wire taken down. — Eu. 



