Fox-hunting 59 



with fondness, his two or three best runs. 

 The two most enjoyable ones I ever had 

 were in no single respect alike, and yet I 

 must bracket them together. One was a 

 very fast twenty-five minutes with the Graf- 

 ton, over as fine a country as even Northamp- 

 tonshire can boast of. I was riding a five- 

 year-old, a recent purchase ; and when one's 

 "latest" carries you well, is not the enjoy- 

 ment always doubled ? We simply raced all 

 the way, and finally saw the fox rolled over 

 in the open, under our horses' noses. The 

 other run, which I love to look back upon, 

 was a grand gallop of nearly two hours in 

 the Blackmoor Vale. This, also, was very 

 fast for an hour and a half, or a little more, 

 perhaps : from then, our fox gradually ran 

 us out of scent, and we finally lost him. It 

 was quite a select few which got through 

 that gallop, and the way our beaten horses 

 "chanced" their last three or four fences, has 

 since given me food for reflection. One of 

 the "survivors" (1 think it was Captain 

 Luttrell) came down a crumpler at the very 



