196 "fence after fence was put behind." 



with his assistance they hunted down the Lover's Walk and on 

 to Owston Wood, which they entered near the Whadborough 

 end. At this juncture a large [)art of the field followed them 

 into the wood, but only those who kept round the left side 

 with the huntsman had a start with the pack as they crossed 

 the Owston Road, and set their helm for Marfield Vale ; with 

 the slope in their favour, and what may, I suppose, be called 

 one of the finest stretches of country in England before 

 them, the twenty-five or so horsemen were afforded a treat it 

 w^ould be hard to equal in fox-hunting. Fence after fence w^as 

 put behind as the pack slid along over the big pastures as far 

 as Newbold Lodge, where for a moment they were at fault ; a 

 left-hand cast, however, quickly set them going again, though 

 the pace was not so good as they breasted the rise to Captain 

 AUfrey's house at Burrough. Crossing the road to the left of 

 the village the pace improved again, and it was only the easy 

 gradient that enabled horses to stay with them to Adam's 

 Gorse. Carrying the line through the top end of the spinney, 

 the pack hunted on over the high ground, and hit the cross-road 

 beyond Thorpe Satchville ; here again they hesitated, but were 

 quickly away, with the railway on their left and the Melton 

 Road on their right ; passing the line at Great Dalby station, 

 hounds hunted on across a stretch of plough land, and eventually 

 came to a full stop in the vicinity of Sanham Lodge, just 

 2 hours and 25 minutes from the start. The pomt was exactly 

 fourteen miles as the crow flies, and we must have gone twenty 

 miles, allowing for deviations. The line was about as fine a 

 one as can be traced on the map of Leicestershire ; starting in 

 Mr. Fernie's woodlands, crossing the cream of the Cottesmore 

 and the Ouorn countries nearly into the Belvoir. I think there 

 is little doubt they stuck to the same fox all the way, but he 

 must have been a remarkable customer, as no one ever viewed 

 him, and he simply ran us out of scent, despite the pace and the 

 few checks that occurred. At the finish about twenty of the 

 large field that started remained, and horses and hounds had a 

 rare gruelling, and ended a good twenty miles from their 

 kennels. 



Amongst those who saw this run I noted Mrs. Fernie, Major 

 KcKie, Captain Allfrey, Mr. E. G. K. Cross, Captain Stephen, 

 Mr. Bernard Wilsoi, Miss Wilson, Mr. Evan Hanbury, Mr. 

 Bertie Hanburv, Miss N. Hanbury, Mr. Gough, Mr. Mawson, 

 Mr. Pelham, Mr. and Mrs. Wormald, Mr. Cecil Fletcher, Miss 

 Fletcher, Mrs. Mostyn Pritchard, and myself. 



