AND STIELINGSHIRE HUNT 



luck was really broken. On the first of these 

 dates, with a touch of frost in the air, hounds ran 

 well from Longmuir to Torphichen — Sir John 

 Usher, who in the previous autumn had been 

 honoured by having a baronetcy conferred upon 

 him, distinguishing himself, notwithstanding his 

 years, by being "first up" at the finish. On the 

 second, with the country at its deepest, a fox found 

 in Lampinsdub was well hunted by Waterstone, 

 the Braes o' Mar, Little Ochiltree, Gateside, Fernie- 

 hill, Cockmuir, and Philpstoun moor to Priestinch 

 where he was killed — Cotesworth wadingf into a 

 pool of water up to his neck in order to get him, 

 and the brush being presented to Mr Andrew Gillon, 

 who was in the field for the first time after 

 his return from South Africa. But the run from the 

 Three-mile-toM'n coverts to Bowden on the 20th of 

 December 1902, was something more than a mere 

 alleviating incident in a period of depression, — it 

 was a good hunt, and is still looked back upon with 

 pleasure. Hounds met at Hopetoun, and ea.v\j in 

 the afternoon were put into the garden at Wester 

 Auldcathie, in which a fox had been seen repeatedly 

 for some time previously. Not waiting to be found 

 he slipped away quietly, and when hounds hit his 

 line a few minutes latei", the covert rang with their 

 music until, crossing the Edinburgh and Linlithgow 

 road, they settled down to run. Leaving Trinlay- 

 mire behind them, they raced through the strips 

 on the Braes o' Mar and, although, on reaching 

 Little Ochiltree, they flashed over the scent, they 



309 



