266 iRiMno IRccoUections ant) Uxxvt Stones 



caught until they reached Ashwell Station, a distance 

 of two miles. Mr. G. Finch and someone else — I 

 don't remember his name — jumped into the luggage 

 van with the old guard " Mat," and found their horses 

 caught at Ashwell. Curiously enough, neither of the 

 animals was any the worse. Mr. Henry Finch had 

 a narrow escape. He had got off his old chestnut 

 mare, a very warm animal at the best of times, and 

 was leading her along the line when the train was 

 coming towards them. She was very much excited, 

 and, twisting round quite sharp, she broke away 

 from him, fell over, rolled down the embankment, 

 scrambled throuQ^h the fence at the bottom, and went 

 two or three miles before she was captured. The 

 most wonderful part of this story is, that all the men 

 and horses escaped unhurt, although there were at 

 least thirty on the line at the time, and at a most 

 dangerous part of it. 



This story has been briefly described and illus- 

 trated by Captain Elmhirst in his book called " The 

 Cream of Leicestershire," and as he and myself were 

 the only two who crossed the line with Bill Neil, I 

 hope he will forgive me repeating it. Luckily, 

 there was no harm done. The hounds only ran 

 about three fields before we got to them, and they 

 had thrown up their heads, having lost their fox. 



