138 



LEAVES FROM A HUNTING DIARY 



belt of trees, entered on a more open country, and quite half a mile in 

 front, breasting the hill tOAvards Pinnacles, the pioneers of the pack could 

 be seen ; but there was no occasion to try to get to them quicker than 

 hounds were taking us, in and out of Watery-lane as fast as one could make 

 room for another, over a convenient gap of which someone seemed rather 

 inclined to take a lease ; a stiff piece of plough up to Pinnacles put the 

 finishing touch on horses out of condition. The hounds were through the 

 first of the two coverts known as Pinnacles, and as we galloped towards 

 the second a locked gate barred further progress. I^ailey turned his horse 

 round and was over directly ; Mr. Miller had a cut at it and incurred a 

 carpenter's bill which would no doubt be willingly paid by those who got 

 through so comfortably afterwards and reached hounds as, now a united 

 pack, they ran the second half of Pinnacles. 



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Running for Pinnacles 



Out they came, right among us, bearing away to the right towards 

 Parndon Hall. Eighteen mmutes to here from the time of finally leaving 

 Parndon Woods. Away down hill, very little of Bailey except his cap 

 could be seen as his horse safely and cleverly carried him over a regular 

 Parndon Bank. Our fox, with a due regard to a dry skin and with a rare 

 knowledge of the country, crossed the brook by a bridge ; and close to the 

 master's house (Parndon Hall) in Ram Gorse, this gallop came to an end, 

 twenty-five minutes from the start. 



You should have been at High Easter last Saturday, November 20, 

 my dear friend — no headache should have kept you at home — ten minutes 

 in the early morning as a hovs d'ccuvre, with twenty-five minutes as an entree, 

 to the grand piece de resistance of fifty minutes and a kill in the open. Yes, 

 a kill in the open ! The " King William " is now in very good hands, and 

 you can send your horse on overnight, with the satisfaction of knowing that 



