102 THE BROCKLESBY HOUNDS. [18GG 



him througli the undergrowth till he turned at bay, when 

 Long ran up and caught the cuId by the brush, mother 

 and daughter, assisted by another couple of hounds, then 

 despatching him. 



For three days in October Long was confined to the 

 house with a very severe cold, and went out one day as a 

 spectator, Alfred Thatcher carrying the horn in the mean 

 while. 



The cub-hunting season was a particularly satisfactory 

 one, there being plenty of foxes everywhere and good 

 scents, and satisfactory work for hounds was the rule. 

 The total of the slain amounted to no fewer than thirty 

 brace killed in forty-one mornings, six and a half brace 

 being marked to ground. The nine cub-hunters sold by 

 auction at Brigg on November 8th realized a total of £293. 



The first good thing of the season came off on Novem- 

 ber 26th from Hawerby House, a poor beginning around 

 Hell Furze and Beesby Wood being followed by a fine 

 hunting run of an hour and ten minutes from the latter 

 covert. Hounds first ran through Hell Furze, and by 

 Autby towards Thoresby, turning to the right and going, 

 with Ludborough village on the right, a couple of fields 

 over the Louth road. Turning back over the road, hounds 

 went to the left of Utterby village, crossed the railway to 

 Little Grimsby, and ran through the Oak Tree plantation 

 to Covenham, where the fox again turned to the right by 

 Yarborough village, Long getting a view of him three 

 fields in front of hounds. Crossing the canal, the fugi- 

 tive lay down in some gardens at Alvingham, where Fury 

 hunted him out and hounds rolled him over, ten good 

 miles as the crow flies from where he was found. He was 

 a very twisting fox, and never seemed to have a point, 

 and hounds were at no time served by a particularly good 

 scent, so that every credit was due to them for their per- 

 formance. Long says he never saw hounds work better 

 than did the dog pack that day. 



Another good day's sport, this time going to the credit 

 of the lady pack, was brought off on December 5th from 



