The Foxhound. 65 



us of one with his hounds, in which the first eleven 

 miles were covered over pretty rough ground in 

 about fifty-three minutes, which must be taken as 

 something quite extraordinary, when fences and one 

 thing and another are taken into consideration. Such 

 a run in the open cannot be placed side by side 

 with the ''trail" hunt of Colonel Thornton and 

 others, to which allusion is made later on. 



In the days of our great-grandfathers hounds met 

 at eight o'clock in the morning; now, excepting in 

 cubbing time, and, in a few exceptional countries, 

 the hour of noon has been reached ere huntsmen 

 and hounds appear on the scene. We have a luxury 

 in our modern sport — not to its improvement — that 

 our ancestors could never have even dreamt of. 



There is a tale of a Northumberland hound, 

 descended from Colonel Thornton's Lounger, by 

 reason of his excellence called the Conqueror, that 

 ran a fox single-handed for eighteen miles, and killed 

 him in the end. A doubtful story rather. Another 

 hound of the gallant colonel's had been running riot 

 in covert, and on making her way out, evidently 

 on a strong scent, the whip gave her a cut with 

 his crop, which unfortunately struck out her eye, 

 which lay on the cheek. This did not stop the 

 plucky bitch, for, with her nose to the ground and 

 hackles up, she raced along the line, and in the end 



F 



