3^2 LEAVES FROM A HUNTING DIARY 



Just as there are two ways from Brick Kilns to Man Wood, 

 so are there two lines from the latter to Down Hall, and again 

 this o-Qod fox chose the best, down by the brook-side below 

 Hatfield Grange. Seventeen viimites from the find ive zvere in 

 tJie Thorns, and the Master at the head of affairs to hold us in 

 check, as the hounds raced round the wood, and carrying the 

 line out without aid of huntsman, who came up at this critical 

 moment, his horse still bearing the impress of his nasty fall. 

 They dashed across the cabbage field — (the one in which we 

 so often find) — without changing, without a falter. What a 

 scent there must have been to have raced on as they did 

 through this odoriferous crop 



Could you have wished for a prettier sight, listened to a 

 more tuneful cry, as "Trouncer's" young progeny, " P^airplay" and 

 " Fallible," raced for a lead through the fir-tree-covered slopes 

 of proud Rookwood's Hall ? Did you grudge that moment's 

 delay, just 22 minutes from the find, beyond the further bridge 

 of the moat, as the fox swimming the stream fled in full view 

 down the narrow pasture with hounds close at his brush ? On 

 as fast as ever towards Matching Park ; the Master with a 

 clear lead of the lot, as he went in and out of roads and lanes, 

 just as they came. Methinks he was riding one good enough 

 for any point-to-point race, although not the trump card he 

 had up his sleeve. Just short of Matching Tye they swung 

 left-handed and bore down for Moor Hall, close to their fox 

 all the way. 



Foiled in his attempt for the big earths, he turned sharp 

 back ; and Jim Cockayne, out for a day in his old country, as 

 he got a view of the beaten fox capped on hounds at once, 

 and with Bailey one side and Jim the other, and "Trouncer"and 

 the rest of the pack bang at his heels he ran the length of 

 the Park policies. If ever a fox was a gone 'coon you would 

 have said he was, but he beat the lot by five yards, as with 

 arched back and drooping brush he gained the earth under the 

 old elm tree, having afforded as good a gallop of 45 minutes 

 as we have had this season. 



" And \qv\^ may he live to repeat the good story 

 He told us to-day in this wonderful run ; 

 We'll drink to his honour and sing to his glory 



With all the good fellows who shared in the fun." 



One gentleman* who saw a good deal of the fun was heard 

 to declare that he would not have missed it for ^25. But 

 runs like this are not to be gauged, still less bought, at a 



* Mr. A. C. Oldham. 



