TWO RUNS \MTH SIR GILBERT GREEN ALL 117 



Lady -Greenall galloping forward to view over the 

 Grantham road. " Tally ho ! " screamed Ben as 

 he jumped out of the road, and the dog-hounds 

 drove along, well served by scent ; every horse going 

 in harmony with his rider, taking the fences as they 

 came. Turning left-handed off the grass our fox 

 crossed the green lane into Boothby little wood, 

 and running down the covert, it was of no avail 

 to shake off his relentless pursuers. Hardly draw- 

 ing rein the small field rode the covert side, glad 

 to turn to gate or gap, for the last few fences had 

 brought about many a peck and scramble. We 

 had a sinking fox before us ; hounds went silent, 

 scent must have failed suddenly as so often happens 

 at the end of a severe hunt. He has beaten us 

 and robbed the run of its crowning reward ! But 

 no. Sir Gilbert's quick eye viewed a tan hound 

 carrying the line on. The next moment the master's 

 horn started us going again. It was a life and death 

 struggle with a gallant fox making a last desperate 

 effort to reach the sanctuary of Boothby big wood, 

 half a mile away on the hill-side. One field more 

 and Ben Capell gave an electrifying cheer, for the 

 dog-hounds rolled their fox over as he struggled 

 through the fence to cross the Grantham Road. 



It was an eight mile point, a great hound per- 

 formance, holding the line as they did through a 

 thousand acres of covert, and savagely they shook 

 their fox into a hundred tatters of brown. " Get 

 me the brush, Ben," said Lady Greenall, " I want 

 it for the boys ! " but a pad rescued from old 

 Villager's jaws was the only trophy of that stout 

 woodland fox. Horses stood around shaking their 

 tails, done to a turn ; and with the pleasant glow 

 of happiness that comes after a good day's sport, 

 we started homewards in the dusk of the evening. 



