SEASONS iS4f - iSSg. 105 



a noted breeding place — and from thence turned over 

 the railway, where the hounds were with some little 

 difficulty stopped to avoid a passing train. No damage 

 was done, however, and once across the}^ settled down 

 to hunt, picking the line out inch by inch across a very 

 nice country, and one that would take a little doing 

 when the pace was strong. Thus, sometimes hunting, 

 at others held forward quietly on the line, they made 

 it out to Appleton Mill, working beautifully, and their 

 huntsman displaying great patience. Besides want of 

 scent, not a few difficulties in the shape of sheep and 

 cattle beset them, and the slightest wildness would have 

 been fatal. From the Mill they worked in the same 

 style to Nun Appleton, and when the grass land of 

 the park was reached, set to and ran as though they 

 meant killing. The fox, however, who could not go 

 ahead from the water being so much out, dodged 

 backwards and forwards through the hedges and planta- 

 tions, and at last contrived to beat them after a hunting 

 run of some duration, never going very fast, but displaying 

 the working powers of the pack to perfection. All agreed 

 that the land was so wet, and with so much surface water 

 about from the drains and ditches being full and unable 

 to carry it off, that there was little chance of sport until 

 we had a few dry days. 



' Many went home at this point, the rest crossed the 

 river, which was literally over the bridge, and saw the 

 coverts and plantations about the park drawn blank. 

 " Where do we go next r " was the query. " Stubb Wood " 

 "And then?" "Home, if we don't find; and it is an 

 even chance against it, as the place has been so much 

 disturbed lately." "There will be no scent if we should 

 find ; but it is as well to go on, and see what they do." 

 A lucky resolve. .Scarcely were they over the boundary 

 ere a hound spoke, then another, then a chorus that made 

 the trees rattle again. "Good scent in covert," remarks 

 one. "There is a chance yet," says a lady who is ever in 

 the first flight, and everybody is on the look out for a 

 view. " By Jove, they are away ! " is the simultaneous 

 exclamation, as the bitches swing out of covert without 

 a word, and mute as a dream, race across the pasture. 



