336 THE MEYNELL HOUNDS. 1 1900 



To-daj' there was a fair liolding scent, but hounds never really pressed a fox who 

 waited nowhere for them to get up to him. But all this is beginning at the 

 wrong end. No sooner did hounds settle to the line than they ran straight to 

 the pit-hole out towards Field, which proved to be stopped, for, though they 

 dwelt for a moment, they ran on over it, across the main road to the right of 

 Field, and swam the river, parallel with which they ran for a short distance 

 smartly. Tlien they turned left-handed away from the water towards the road 

 which leads to Leigh Station, and checked. Here some hounds had shpped on, 

 and the huntsman, catching hold of the pack, lost no time in setting off in 

 pursuit, and soon overtook them. They hunted very prettily, if slowly, by the 

 new plantation and to the left of Brinsley Coppice to the Sprink, which they left 

 on their right, over the marshy meadows beneath it. The fox had not waited, 

 nor, for that matter, gone into it, and we began to wonder what his ultimate 

 point might be. Slowly and prettily still hounds hunted on, puzzling out many 

 an awkward twist and turn up to Fulford, where there was a long check, and 

 catching the fox was now quite out of the question, unless they could get up to 

 him in some covert. Spotacre Nurseries, some thought, might be the desired 

 haven, but no, they turned away from there. Then there was a rumour of some 

 main earths hard by, but the pack did not point that way either, descending the 

 hill as they did for Spot Grange. They just managed to touch the line towards 

 Vernon's Gorse, but scent failed them entirely before reaching it, and the fox had 

 to be given up, after a capital hunting run of an hour and twenty-eight minutes, 

 with a seven-mile point, which did great credit both to hounds and huntsman, 

 and which gave great enjoyment to the field, for it was never fast enough to 

 prevent any one seeing it all. May we find this fox again with a better scent, 

 kill him, and drink Mr. Blount's health afterwards. A long, long jog back to 

 Birch Wood Park was rewarded by a smart scurry, after a long draw, through 

 the new plantation, to the road from Middleton Green to Dodsleigh, which 

 they crossed near the first-mentioned place, and then ran parallel with the 

 road till they cut a corner into it again where it descended sharply into the 

 valley. Do\vn the road they ran like mad, and perhaps oveiTan it, for they could 

 make nothing of it when they cast themselves left-handed to the right of Leigh 

 Lane by Wood Farm. The farmer said he had seen the fox " gone ten minutes," 

 but hounds could not own the line. Though the huntsman did eventually hit 

 it off, there was not scent enough to do any good. So a good day's sport came 

 to an end. 



Monday, December 24th. Tutbury station in a dense fog, with the prospects 

 of hunting very doubtful indeed, as we jogged and walked about the roads, hoping 

 for a clearer atmosphere. At last, by way of a little diversion, some one got up 

 a race for juveniles in an adjoining meadow, which Master Harry Brace won by 

 a neck from Master Hodgson, with Master Basil Randall and Miss Dorothy Brace 

 third and fourth. Immediately after this the fog lifted sufficiently to encourage 

 the Master to draw Hilton Gorse. A fox soon darted off into the gloom on tlie 

 side nearest the main road, and crossed the brook at the bottom corner of the 

 covert. This afibrded some excitement, more than one rider having to part 

 company with his horse after plunging into the stream, and Miss Dorothy Brace 

 was amongst them, seeming rather to enjoy wading about than otherwise. How- 

 ever, she pluckily stuck to her pony's reins, and was pulled out by them none the 

 worse. Meanwhile hounds were bending to the right, and ran a small ring back 

 by the gorse, thence by Hoon Mount to the familiar pit-hole on Mr. Orme's fiirm, 

 which was duly stopped, and so the fox turned Fostonwards, curling round just 



