292 LKAVICS ll'OM A IK'NTINC DIARV 



Home .'iftcr Shalcsiiiorc, not, lunvcvor, witliouL lirsl accepting Mr. 

 Sworder's kind hospitality. 



On Wednesday, October jist.in log and mist, after a ceaseless down- 

 ptnir of clfjse ui)(jn twenty-four hours, we met at Nasing. In common with 

 a g(jo(l many more r(;gistering a vow not to lose sight of the hounds for a 

 second in thi; big woods at Galley Hills, they were running a fox from end 

 to end before we fully woke uj) to the fact that an iiii|)assal)le gulf 

 separated us from the pack, for the rides wcmc; up to your hocks, and not a 

 man who was in the; middle ol the covert wli(;n hounds broke ever caught 

 sight of them again. 



ICasterby, with lusty shouts (jf " (iet away to him! Get away forrard ! " 

 and vigorous cracks of his whip, led a forlorn hope on the right, for when 

 the open country was reached nothing but a few scattered horsemen could 

 be seen sinking away in thedistan(:(^ ICven the huntsman had a hard and 

 stern chase before lie could catch hounds. Coming out at the Nasing end 

 by themselves, luckily they did not escape the keen eye of the Master, Mr, 

 Aikwright, wlio, with the few near liim, including Mr. and Mrs. W. 

 Sewell, set to work to ride in their wakt;. Crossing below the old turnpike 

 they turn(;(l sharp to the left, up the hill, j^ast Mr. J>ury's, and crossing the 

 narrow lane at the back of the house, swung down for Hollyfield Hall, by 

 which time the remnant (under twenty) of those who were destined to see 

 anything of this nice gallop on the grass managed to cut in, while the 

 remaining sixty or eighty were scattered far and wide. 



Capt. and Mrs. Jiruce, Capt. Wilson, Mr. S. Fitch, Mr. K'alj)li lUny, 

 Mr. and Miss Peel, Mr. Howard l"\)wler, Mr. Chaffey-Collin, Mr. Newman 

 Gilbey, were there, as leaving Hollyfield Hall on the left hounds swept 

 swiftly and silently down the: hill. Skimming along with undeniable scent 

 oxer the marshes, they tell me that nothing but timber jumpers could live 

 with them, and that Mrs. Sewell on her chestnut led all the way, and that 

 the pace was too good to stop for lost hats or lost shoes. Twenty minutes 

 of the best before the burst was over, and a cast back in the direction of 

 Mr. jiury's brouglit us all once more within touch of hounds and Mr. 

 i:5ury's freely oMered hospitality. I'^ew, 1 think, passed his house without 

 accepting it. Mr. Sam Fitch's face was a study— of a regular fog- 

 dispelling hue. 1 caught sight of it long before I saw the hounds, and 

 r(;(iuire(l 110 further proof of what a duster they had had. " Why weren't 

 you there ? Not a yard of plough ! Lovely timber ! A screaming scent ! 

 A select circle to see how the bitches drove along ! Nothing better this 

 season ! " "Oh, rub it in ; you didn't kill him ! " and buoyed up with the 

 vain hope of imdiiig another lox, we went on to 'i'allle Ikishes and Koydon 

 I'ark. 



This brought the cubbing season to a close. Taking it altogether, it 

 has been a most successful one, for success in this case must not be gauged 

 by the number of cui)s whose masks have gone to swell the triumphs of the 

 huntsman's skill, but by the way the survivors have been hunted, and the 

 young lioimds upon whom so uuich of our future sport depends have done 

 their work. Those who have been out in the early mornings can answer 

 for the thoroughly eflicient manner in whicli all the younger members of 

 the vulpine {n\)(i have been routed, and the keen way in which the new 

 entry have settled to their task. So that were times better, and could the 

 gloom of agricultural depression be dispersed, enabling our chief and best 

 frienils, the farmers, to join in the sport which they so dearly love, then, 

 indeed, we should have had double, aye treble satisfaction in anticipating 

 the rise of tiie curtain when the play commenced at Matching Green. 



