155 LEAVES FROM A HUNTING DIARY 



you have as much chance of overtaking them before tlie fun is over as of 

 catching your own shadow. 



Was that the same fox, Colonel, whose greyhound form was pointing 

 like a winged arrow for Latton Park ere the faint ripple of your lusty cry 

 had reached the huntsman in the distant part of the covert ? I fancy not ; 

 but " yo-onder he goes," comes from healthy lungs, and down charged the 

 heavy brigade for the gate into the Harlow road. " Hold hard down the road, 

 sir," was no meaningless cry, for hounds were not yet out. Soon they were. 

 How they flung over the grass into the Park. Did you take your shower 

 bath, my dear fellow, with a good grace, as you were bespattered and 

 bespattered the galloping throng that, led by the Master, could just keep 

 touch of the bitch pack, as with eager jealousy they tore through the covert. 

 " Give them a moment on the plough." " They have got it, now you may 





Harlow Park 



go," came from the Master's lips ; " and you will not want pulling up again 

 before Parndon Wood is reached, I can fancy," he muttered, "a good mile 

 and a half, if it was a yard, and every inch of it plough." 



A ravishing scent, the rise of the hill against us, and even the soundest 

 going on the headland deep to a degree, was all in favour of hounds, while a 

 deep gully that soon faced us after crossing a road was provocative of as 

 much delay as a narrow bridle gate to a Leicestershire crowd. A few, 

 relying upon a season's condition to pull them through, made the running 

 across the middle of the fields, prominently Mr. R. Ball and Miss Maudie 

 Dawson, who has inherited her father's keenness and hard-riding qualities. 

 They and Mr. Bevan were probably the first to reach Parndon Woods, 

 with Bailey and the hounds ; but this was only the commencement of the run, 

 and certainly took more out of the horses than any other part of it, for they 

 had not gained their second wind, and had been sent along at top pressure. 



The pack ran on through the woods in a bee line without a check ; deep, 



