19011 GOOD DAY FROM FOSTON. 345 



from the Pudding Bag, than by the way that they drove any one could see that 

 scent was a good bit above the average. How the dog-hounds did slip along, 

 too, across the Scropton lane and over the fair pastures and big flying fences of 

 Mr. Shipton's farm, with the tenant of it very handy to them, as seemed only 

 right and fitting. Almost opposite Pennywaste they turned sharp left, wheeling 

 like a flock of pigeons, crossed the main Derby road, and ran straight for the 

 last-named covert. A fence into a grassy lane with a yawning ditch on the far 

 side caused some hesitation amongst the front rank, and brought Miss Miles to 

 grief, who had been going uncommonly well on a clever chestnut. Past Penny- 

 waste they turned to the right, and pointed for Hilton Gorse, but swung to the 

 left again on Mr. Orme's fai-m, where the well-known pit-hole was evidently 

 stopped. Kunning along the brook side, with Church Broughton on their right 

 front, they left that village on their right, and it looked for a moment as if the 

 top Foston covert was the fox's point. But if it was he changed his mind, for 

 hounds swung to the right, pointing for Barton Blount, but were brought to their 

 noses on some cold ploughed land, and checked just by Mr. Edge's farmhouse on 

 the Foston-Boylestone road. The huntsman cast towards Sapperton, giving no 

 time to call to mind the attempts which had been made to jump this " dread 

 stream of historic disaster " on the part of Messrs. Chaplin, Charles Cummmg, 

 Hamar Bass on a six-hundred-guinea one, and W. Fitz Herbert — the latter, I 

 believe, being one of the very few who got over without a fall. But all this refers 

 to the past, and to-day, as we rode along the brook, there was a halloa from the 

 first whipper-in, who had got reliable information on the hQltop towards Barton 

 Blount, and right gladly we went to it. Hitting the line, hounds ran slowly 

 towards Barton, while we rode in safety by the bridle-road which leads thither 

 from Church Broughton. In fact, from this on " the pace which gives life unto 

 the chase " was wanting, and it was a happy family party which saw hounds 

 unravel the tangled skein, full of good hound work, between Potter's and Barton. 

 At one time things looked bad, but a forward cast, with Potter's in the rear on 

 the left, recovered the line, and they hunted on to near the Dairy House spiuny, 

 where they began to run again sharply, crossing the road to Longford with 

 Potter's on their left. Here the fox ran as if he was fairly beaten, and they 

 recrossed the road above mentioned, pointing for Barton Hall. Hereabouts, it 

 seems, they got on to a fresh one and ran faster, with the Dairy House on their 

 left, pointing for Bentley Car, but some one viewed the fox going for Alkmonton 

 Bottoms, and they ran smartly by them to Longford Car. Carrying a line in, 

 they ran from end to end and away on the Shu-ley side, across the Park to the 

 spinny on the bridle-road , to Shirley, where they overran it, but Lancet — 

 Merryman blood again — turned short with his fox and put them right. " Forward 

 it is," and patiently they stuck to the line, with Shirley Park on their left, past 

 Hollington, and on, pointing for Brailsford, up to Ednaston Old Hall, where they 

 checked, after crossing the Brailsford road, and there a first-rate hunt of two 

 hours and a quarter came to an end. It was a run which did the dog-hounds 

 great credit. They ran and drove hard when scent served, and they hunted 

 when they had to hunt. In fact, they quite deserved the high praise awarded 

 them by the laureate of the Meynell Hunt a quarter of a century ago, when he 

 sang — 



" When the scent is breast high, swift as pigeons they fly. 

 When it's cold to the line close they stick." 



In the afternoon they ran a good ring of forty-five minutes from Shirley Park, and 

 back to ground in the main earth, but lack of space forbids entering into details. 



