1891] WILL DALE. 151 



hound- work. There were several excellent and fast runs in 

 the open, and hounds could generally run through sheep 

 or rooks, and twist and turn with their fox as if running 

 him in view. 



Hounds did not keep their appointment on January 

 1 4th, owing to the death of the Duke of Clarence, who, 

 it will be remembered, hunted with Lord Yarborough's 

 hounds from a meet at Immingham on February 28th, 

 1888. 



The first great run of which I have personal recol- 

 lection came off on Fel)ruary 13th, and well I remember 

 it. It was a chill, grey morning, with the w^ind in the 

 north-west, on which we assembled at Kingerby, a some- 

 what small Brocklesby field l)eing augmented by con- 

 tingents from the Burton, the South Wold, and, I believe, 

 the Blankney. Kingerby Wood was tenantless, but Sedge 

 Cop Corse held a brace, the vixen being the first aw^ay, 

 but only to lead us for a few fields before bringing us 

 back to covert again. How we heaped blessings on the 

 head of that dog fox who had considerately waited in 

 covert and now took up the running. An uplifted hat 

 proclaimed his departure, and in another minute the little 

 ladies were streaming away in hot pursuit. It first looked 

 as if we should go back to Kingerby Wood ; but Dale's 

 wish, expressed earlier in the day, that he could invade 

 Burton territory, was to be realized ; and as hounds swung 

 to the left, it soon became a case of sitting down to ride 

 if one wanted to see the way hounds went. I have seldom 

 seen the bitches run with more dash : they packed like 

 pigeons, and went at a pace that rec^uired a bit more than 

 a " useful " horse to live with them for long. The plough 

 at Middle Rasen was distinctly holding, and with one 

 consent we turned on to an adjoining stretch of grass as 

 hounds pressed on over a wild but capital scenting country, 

 and entered Burton domains at Buslingthorpe, and then 

 ran their fox into Wickenby Wood. A momentary pause, 

 and welcome, too, and then the signalman from his coign 

 of vantage views our fox over the railway, the hounds 



