HUNTING WITH THE COTTESMORE 207 



the line. Thatcher made a cast, but scent being 

 cold, no further good resulted. Later from Ash- 

 well Spinney a splendid hunt was seen, though the 

 pilot ran rather a twisty course, heading for 

 Whissendine, over the brook for Stapleford domains. 

 Sticking well to him through the coverts in the 

 park, they drove him back past Wymondham 

 Grammar School, and finished a good run in the park 

 by Edmonthorpe. 



On the following Saturday, the 19th, after meet- 

 ing at Beaumont Chase, Thatcher put two good 

 hunts to his credit, hounds crowning each gallop 

 with a kill in the open. The first was from Stoke 

 End, and the pilot failed to make his point in the 

 Uppingham district, where hounds rolled him over 

 after a short, sharp burst. Starting again at 

 Wardley Wood, they ran a fox by Horninghold 

 Spinneys, back through Allexton Wood to Ridling- 

 ton. Bearing for Ayston Spinney, he made his last 

 effort to reach Nevill Holt, but was so dead beat 

 that hounds ran into him after an hour and fifty 

 minutes — a fine performance on the part of hunts- 

 man and hounds, making a hard day for horses. 



Sport that deserves the red letter in the hunting 

 diary was seen on Thursday, November 30, 1905, 

 when a distinguished following met the Cottesmore 

 at Thistleton village. It was a typical hunting 

 morning, still and grey, the southerly wind bringing 

 a scent, hounds scoring a four-and-a-half -mile point 

 into the wilds of Lincolnshire, seldom ridden by the 

 Leicestershire division. 



An outlier jumped up out of a field of roots 

 close to the vihage, and with hounds snapping at 

 his brush raced for dear life to a well-known culvert 

 under the railway, by Little Bytham Station, near 

 the main line between Grantham and London. The 



