MR. CHARLES BOOTH ELMS ALL WRIGHT 363 



" Once in the spring of the year we were 

 hunting very slowly on poor scent, until hounds 

 got on to a large field which was being fresh 

 limed. Hounds then began to run as if they 

 could see the fox, and all the time they were 

 in a cloud of lime dust, as several men were 

 spreading the lime. 



" Another time, after a long check — over 

 forty minutes — for curiosity more than anything 

 else I made a cast directly back, on some in- 

 formation I had been given ; a very faint line 

 was shown by a one-eyed dog, ' Harper.' 

 This line was silently worked on until we got 

 to a laree field covered with rooks ; here hounds 

 could move on and throw their tongues, and 

 we killed a fox inside Hampole Wood as stiff 

 as a poker. Before the check hounds had 

 come the best possible pace for fifty minutes, 

 which accounts for the stiffness ; but rooks 

 generally save the fox, whereas in this case 

 scent greatly improved. 



" A curious instance of a holding scent once 

 occurred when we were drawing Barnsdale 

 Wood. The bitch ' Skilful ' came out of the 

 wood, trying to make a line only ; I put her 

 back into the wood, which was drawn blank ; 

 when countincr hounds I found one short, 

 ' Skilful ' being missing. I then went back to 

 where I had put her into covert, and saw her 



