348 THE MEYNELL HOUNDS. [1901 



the fox and had enlisted a small boy to halloa for her. So the huntsman soon 

 had hounds on the line, though the fox was a good ten minutes in front of them, 

 and they hunted liim into the Sudbury lake hanks. Hence he went in a 

 vacillating, half-hearted fashion, with two couples of hounds close at him. The 

 huntsman soon caught them up with the main body, and they ran, pointing for 

 the Hare Park, only to turn back for Brocksford, which was a little hard on the 

 man on the grey [Mr. Caldecott], who, going straight as a gun-barrel, had 

 secured a long lead. Just below Brocksford Gorse the fox was not far in front 

 of hounds, and they ran him merrily to the Hare Park. Going away from this, 

 he crossed the river gallantly by Woodford, and, settling to the line, hounds ran 

 him slowly, with an over-eager field thundering in their wake, up to Moisty Lane, 

 better known as the back road from Marchington to Uttoxeter, where they 

 checked about halfway between Marchington and Woodlands Hall. Casting 

 on over the road, the huntsman hit off the line and they hunted prettily on over 

 Mrs. Hall's grounds, with Brook House on their left, crossed the main Uttoxeter 

 road, and ran between Hodge Lane and the road to Smallwood Manor House, 

 till, just below Marchington Woodlands Church, they ran into their fox after a 

 capital hunting run of a little over an hour. 



Tuesday, Newton Village. This was a typical March morning, rough, cold, 

 and boisterous, with snowflakes, Boating about, and that north-easter, of which 

 Charles Kingsley alone of mortals could sing the praises, in the ascendant. 

 " Breast high lies the scent," sang he, and breast high or thereabouts it must 

 have been, when hounds came a-flying iu the wake of a bold fox, who dared to 

 face the gale and snowflakes, from the famous Coley Gorse. At the first lane 

 Bishton-wards they hovered, but not for long. Away they went again at a good 

 pace, but by no means racing, for you had time to retrieve mistakes and hats and 

 all sorts of things, and yet to catch them up again, as they swung first left and 

 then right towards ^Bellamoor, till they came up to the Blithfiekl-Rugeley road, 

 just at the point where they crossed it a year or two ago in two good runs. To- 

 day, however, the}' turned left, short of it, and gave one or two adventurous 

 spirits the opportunity of jumping the More ton brook, which most people crossed 

 on the road. Parallel with this the pack ran right merrily till they turned to 

 the left, and dashed into a grassy lane, down which they ran like wildfire. Just 

 a hover, and they are out of it, and here is Spencer's Plantation, with the cream 

 of the fun over at the end of a good twenty minutes. In a blinding snowstorm 

 they ran to the right of Blithfield Gorse, into the Park, up the Admaston Lodge, 

 back to the gardens. Here the storm abated, and so did the scent. Nevertheless, 

 they hunted on across the Park and over the Blythe, through Stansley Wood, 

 and checked. Telltale, sticking modestly but persistently to the line down the 

 road, and yet not quite daring to speak to it, was joined by Hasty, and the two 

 ladies, young and old, feathered along with lashing sterns, while the huntsman 

 was casting towards the Warren ; but, seeing them, he hastened on with the 

 pack, who gave vocal testimony to the scenting powers of two good noses. Still, 

 it was but the last flicker of the candle, for in the earths by the spinny on the 

 road to Newton village just opposite Bagot's Bromley they marked their fox to 

 ground, and did not he deserve to reach his haven after standing up before hounds 

 in the teeth of such a storm for fifty minutes? After this good gallop came a 

 series of disappointments. Duckley Wood and the Square Covert blank, a fox 

 chopped in the spinny between Newton Gorse and Chartley Moss, which was 

 blank. Then the worst snowstorm of a snowy day, while the coverts between 

 Chartley Moss and Grindley were being drawn in vain, as also were Wanfield 

 Coppice and Woodcock Heath, and Kingston Wood. They found a fox or two in 



