1868] THE GREAT RADBURNE RUN. 263 



She asked me to whip the hounds off ; I said, ' If you'll 

 leave them alone they'll kill him directly.' She replied, 

 like a true Meynell, ' If you think so, let them try.' 

 Soon after he was viewed a field before the hounds, who, 

 excited by the screaming of a man, flashed forward. 

 'You hunt them,' said Moore to me, 'and I'll whip in.' 

 You must remember we had no huntsman, whipper-in, or 

 horn. We soon turned the hounds, and ran him to a 

 wooded hollow by a brook. I looked at my watch. The 

 time was four hours all but three minutes. When the 

 hounds entered the dumble, I, as huntsman, knowing his 

 point of safety was to the north, crossed the brook by 

 a bridge, the only way over, and waited there for the 

 hounds to come to me. But in about ten minutes they 

 had roused this gallant fox from his hiding-place, and 

 were rewarded for their wonderful perseverance by a 

 well-deserved ' who-whoop ! ' 



" The fox was knocked over, I believe, by a farmer, with 

 the butt end of his whip, as he was crawling dead beat in 

 the dumble. It was a pity he could not have escaped, 

 for his plucky exertions entitled him to a less ignominious 

 fate. When I heard ' Who-whoop ! ' I dismounted, and, 

 leading Kosy Morn leisurely back, came up as the hounds 

 were breaking him up. Seven and a half couples were 

 present ; the rest were said to have been called away 

 to a false halloa towards Atlow. The party then present 

 consisted of Miss Meynell, Sir Thomas Gresley, Messrs. 

 Bass, C. Eaton, W. FitzHerbert, G. Moore, A. Strutt, and 

 myself It is difficult to make out the actual distance 

 run. For the first hour and a half the fox's progress, 

 though rapid, was very erratic. For nearly all the rest of 

 the time there was straightforward, continuous running, 

 the hounds ever forging ahead, never off the line, but 

 forcing their fox forward, without allowing him a moment's 

 respite, and showing the perfection of breeding and 

 condition. But for the last four miles, finding that he 

 could not beat the hounds by going free, the fox put 

 about, and tried short tacks, so that, for the beginning 



