186 THE BROCKLESBY HOUNDS. L1901 



On December 29th there was a very fast run from 

 Smithfiekl to Ludford, back to Tealby hillside, and thence 

 to ground at Stainton. Fifty minutes, two brief checks, 

 and every hound up. There was also a good sixty-five 

 minutes from Grainsby Healing to "Wold Newton, and 

 back by Peterhills and Ashby Cottagers' Plats to North 

 Thoresby ; a gallop in the fog, and really unfit to hunt. 



The Roxton Wood day on January 12th was another 

 of those hard tiring days for hounds and horses, for we 

 were at it all day with scarcely a pause, and the country 

 very, deep going too. On the way to the meet hounds 

 encountered a fox going in the direction of Keelby, and 

 another met them just outside Roxton Wood. This time 

 they would not be denied, and sending him once round 

 Roxton Wood at Top Hole, ran him to ground in a drain 

 on the racecourse. The terrier put in killed the fox and 

 brought him out. Hounds found again on the Keelby side 

 of Roxton Wood, and continued to run with a splendid cry 

 for three hours and fifty-five minutes over Stallingborough, 

 Keelby, Healing, Aylesby, and Roxton, changing re- 

 peatedly, of course. Some tail-hounds killed one dead- 

 beat fox in a hedgerow,* but the body of the pack were 

 running close on the brush of a fresh one at the time, 

 and so he was not broken up. Smith was never so pleased 

 with his hounds, I think, as he was this day. 



There was another hard day on January 14th from a 

 meet at Waltham Station, hounds finding their first fox 

 in the Grimsby Osiers, as Peeks and Weelsby proved un- 

 fruitful, and running hard with Little Coates on the right 

 along the valley and up to Drake's Gorse, just skirting 

 that covert and ooins; throu2;h Maud Hole as if for 

 Hungerhills. Turning to the left over Aylesby, hounds 

 crossed the beck, and the Grimsby road at Laceby Mill, 

 and ran hard straight through Bradley Wood to mark 

 their fox to ground in a drain two fields towards Grimsby. 

 Fifty-five minutes, good. Finding again in Bradley Wood, 

 hounds ran fast by Bradley Church and Laceby Cottagers' 



* His grinning mask faces me as I write. 



