152 THE BROCKLESBY HOUNDS. [1892 



following a minute later, and '' fo'rard on " is the hunts- 

 man's cheer. Through Wickenby and Lissington villages 

 we clatter, and Will gets a view as the fox crosses the 

 Holton and Snelland road ; and now the bitches have 

 got their hackles up, for they are running for their fox. 

 At Holton Beckering they rolled him over, he turning to 

 meet his foes in mid-field, and dying as a gallant, game 

 fox should ; and every hound was up at the time. It is a 

 good eight-mile point from Sedge Cop to Holton Beckering, 

 and hounds had run at a great pace for exactly fifty minutes ; 

 and thanks, too, to a bonny grey mare by Special Pleader 

 — Portia by name — T had been able to see the whole of 

 the run over this big, wild, sporting line of country. 



The next good thing was an eight-mile point accom- 

 plished on March 7th in a twisting gallop lasting an hour 

 and a half, Langmere Furze being the starting-point, and 

 Barton the finishing. 



But March 16th was the red-letter day of the season, 

 for on it hounds ran, with scarcely a pause, for four hours, 

 and they had to be stopped eventually because every 

 horse was done to a turn. The run l)egan from Battery 

 Marsh, so that the first part was over the cream of the 

 marshes, hounds running first to Houlton's covert, and so 

 on over Immingham and Habrough to Eoxton Wood. 

 Emerging from this stronghold at the Stallingborough 

 corner, they ran to South Wells, and thence to Riby 

 Bratlands, from which covert they had a brace of foxes in 

 front of them, and with Irby Dales Close on the left went 

 to Swallow Vale, where part of the pack marked one fox 

 to ground. Quickly getting his forces reunited. Dale 

 pressed on in pursuit of the other, who had gone away 

 over Cuxwold to Badger Hills, and he led hounds to the 

 confines of Kothwell village, where he was headed, and so 

 turned back over Cabourne to the Top Woods. On facing 

 the open again hounds ran to Cabourne, but the horses 

 could scarcely raise a trot, and at the first opportunity 

 Dale stopped the pack, every one of the little ladies being 

 up at the finish of this most exacting run. 



