The Bloodhound. 21 



10.30. As it happened, when that hour was reached, 

 the only one of the three judges present was Colonel 

 Starkie, who a little later was joined by Lord Alfred 

 Fitzroy. Then snow began to fall, few of the stewards 

 were in the dog show, and the prospects seemed to 

 favour an abandonment of the trials altogether. Up 

 to 11.30 o'clock nothing had been decided upon, so 

 Mr. Craven, with his couple of entered hounds, went 

 home. Next it was officially stated that a decision 

 would be come to at twenty minutes to one, when it 

 was resolved to hold the trials. The snow had by 

 this time given place to rain ; a cold, chilly wind 

 blew from the south-west ; and these combinations, 

 with the addition of the wet, damp ground, upon 

 which old snow lay three inches or more in depth, 

 made the surroundings of these trials as unfavour- 

 able as they well could be. 



Mr. Lindsay Hogg, in addition to the gentlemen 

 already named, judged, but the duties were almost 

 sinecures. Several tracks had been marked out by 

 small flags, and, although these courses were said to 

 be six hundred yards in length, they appeared con- 

 siderably more probably that distance straight 

 away, with the run home additional. Each hound 

 was allowed a track of his own, which extended along 

 the racecourse for several hundred yards on the flat, 

 over sundry lots of railings, winding round in the 



