THE RULE OF Mr. E. LYCETT GREEN. 



199 



' foxes in front of us, running slowly for the first half-mile. 

 ' The fox we were hunting- then we viewed just in front of 

 ' hounds — a fine long fox of bright dark red colour. 

 ' Hounds checked rather after crossing the road. Unfortu- 

 ' nately, the other fox that had been in front of us previously, 

 'jumped up behind. Some of the field in the rear holloaed 

 ' him, got hounds' heads up, and sent the fox right into 

 'them. There was a great stake-wound in the fox's 

 ' shoulder. After breaking him up, hounds were quickly 

 ' let on the line of the other fox, and settling well down, 

 ' they ran nicely, straight up to Kirby Knowle and up to 

 ' the hills by Cowesby Wood. Changed foxes after going 

 ' up the hill, and ran the fresh fox right on to the moors. 

 ' Ran on to beyond Kepwick (after having passed Mount 

 ' St. John's and Upsall Castle previous to Cowesby Wood) 

 ' and in the end gave up on Mr. Warner's moor. Time, 

 ' one hour up to the foot of the hills, over one of the finest 

 ' bits of country imaginable. When we got there, a couple 

 ' of hounds — Fencer (1887) and Gainly (1887) — got ahead 

 ' of the body of the pack, and we had some difficulty in 

 ' getting up to them over the hills, as they could not hear 

 ' the cry. On the hill tops scent was wretched, and the 

 ' thirty minutes spent in working on after a fresh fox over 

 ' frozen ground was of no use, in spite of him being 

 ' viewed just in front of them. Time from find to finish, 

 ' one hour thirty minutes — nine miles as the crow flies, 

 ' about twelve miles as hounds ran. We were said to have 

 ' run through three hunts, namely, -Sinnington, Bilsdale, 

 ' and Hurworth. The fine country before reaching the 

 ' hills was for the most part the Bilsdale, near where it 

 'joins the Hurworth and Bedale.' 



There was a week's frost after this, and then hounds got 

 to work again, and the remainder of the season was very 

 open. Indeed, there were only two stoppages from frost 

 from January 6th till the season closed on April ist. There 

 was nothing exceptional about the sport in January and 

 February, though hounds had some very good hunting runs. 

 March was stormy and wild, and scent, as a natural conse- 

 quence, was only moderate. They had, however, a good day 



