152 FOX-HUNTING FROM SHIRE TO SHIRE 



over the wet clay country by Kirkby Mount. Those 

 who got well away with them had plenty to do to 

 keep their place and look after their fences, the 

 drains in this wet plough country being dug deep and 

 wide. Wheeling sharp to the left, hounds ran hard 

 leaving Ouarrington on the right, across a flat 

 strip of arable country. Here the pilot, evidently 

 meaning to reach Rauceby, was headed by a sheep 

 dog, and turned for Silk Willoughby village, where 

 an open cottage door offered a welcome shelter 

 after a quick hunt of twenty minutes. A baby lay 

 on the hearthrug in front of the fire, while her mother 

 busied herself about the house ; the fox jumping 

 over the infant went up the chimney. The 

 alarmed mother had the presence of mind to slam 

 the cottage door just as hounds dashed up, or 

 possibly there would have been a tragedy. Gillard 

 was quickly on the scene with hounds, all apologies 

 for the rude intrusion of the hunted one ; and the 

 villagers came running up in eager curiosity, flatten- 

 ing their noses on the window pane. We were 

 reminded of an old sporting print by Rowlandson 

 of a somewhat similar incident, where a fox sought 

 shelter under an old lady's petticoat ; but how 

 manners and customs have changed since those 

 days ! Politeness now characterises the following 

 of the chase. 



The field drew up in the lane, and Caine Croft, 

 the whipper-in, climbed on to the roof, peering down 

 the chimney pot, where he could see the fox sitting 

 on a ledge. A clothes prop was borrowed, and Cox 

 of Ropsley, a keen foot-hunter, out on every possible 

 occasion with the Belvoir, went into the house with 

 Gillard and Mr James Hutchinson, to get hold of 

 the fox. When Cox eventually appeared in the 

 doorway, holding the sooty form at arms length — 



