AND STIRLINGSHIRE HUNT 



hill near Longcroft on the 4th of December 1897 

 was by no means the longest, it was probably one 

 of the best, for the point was a fair one and hounds 

 pulled their fox down in the open after running 

 nicely for an hour and fifteen minutes.^ But 

 perhaps the 3rd of December in the following season 

 (1898) was the day which produced the best run 

 of this mastership, and although Mr Fred Usher 

 was unfortunate enough to have one of his legs 

 broken through his horse slipping up with him 

 near Lochcote, the accident did not happen until 

 late in the afternoon when the run was over. In 

 Wallhouse Desert hounds found their fox, and, from 

 it, went away towards Lochcote, but, turning, carried 

 the line back through the Desert to Crawhill on 

 the banks of the Avon. Then they bent left-handed, 

 threaded the Crow wood, and, crossing the low 

 lands between that and the Couston water, reached 

 Wallhouse craigs. There the fox found temporary 

 refuge on a ledge of rock, but, being viewed, he was 

 soon forced from his position, and hounds, after 

 again pointing towards the Couston water, hunted 

 him through the Bishopbrae strips into Cairnpapple. 

 One turn round that large covert and they were 

 aw^ay — Saffron ^ guiding them along and out of the 

 road — by the silver-mines straight to Baldie-tap, 

 and from that, leaving Craigbinning Wilderness 

 on their right, to the Mains burn. Now the pace 



1 'The West Lothian Courier,' 11th December 1897. 



2 Saffron (1894) by Tapster (1891)— Sybil (1887). Sybil by Milton 

 Solomon (1881)— North Cheshire Spinster (1881). 



307 



