234 THE BROCKLESBY HOUNDS. 



occasion when the Badsworth Hounds came by invitation 

 to Brocklesby Station and a large crowd turned out to 

 meet them. They found in the little covert on the south 

 side of Rye Hill junction and ran hard over Ulceby, the 

 writer alone counting twenty-seven falls in nineteen 

 minutes, and one wide ditch, that Will Dale, Captain 

 Pretyman, and the writer were first to negotiate, quickly 

 swallowed up half a score of riders. 



Wootton Lawn, a breakfast meet for very many 

 years, Burnham Beeches (another breakfast), Croxton 

 Railway Bridge and Melton Railway Bridge, are the 

 principal fixtures. 



Probably the best bit of country within Lord Yar- 

 l)orough's dominions, and certainly the most popular, is 

 that beautiful stretch of marsh land, all grass and open 

 drains, that lies to the east of the railway from Brocklesby 

 to New Holland, and north of the railway from Brocklesby 

 to Grimsby. Here is the place to test the ability of man 

 and horse, for the foxes are straight-necked, and hounds 

 seldom go slow enough to allow the field to over-ride 

 them ; indeed, it is frequently a matter of great difficulty 

 to keep with them at all. A galloping horse, and one 

 that can fly a wide place if necessary, or creep and cramp 

 a deep-sided bottomless drain when required, is a sine quct, 

 non if you wish to be in measurable distance of the flying 

 pack, and a lucky man is he who owns an animal that 

 does all that is asked of him with confidence and safety. 

 Such a horse should not be parted with ; but if the owner 

 must sell, let him not be afraid to open his mouth, for he 

 has got a treasure. I said that, in the marshes, one had 

 sometimes to fly a place and sometimes to cramp. A cool 

 head, nerves of steel, and an ability to grasp the situation 

 in a moment and arrive at an instantaneous decision of 

 what is required, is the equipment of the man and horse 

 who is to do thirty-five minutes without a check down the 

 marshes. Some drains are too wide to fly from bank to 

 bank, though narrow enough to cramp at the bottom ; 

 attempt to fly these, and a gun-shot will most likely be 



