156 THE TKINITY FOOT BEAGLES 



The best run we had was at Chatteris, when, after making one 

 ring on the high ground, the hare went down into the fen and ran in 

 a semicircle, the diameter of which was about five or six miles, so 

 that as hounds ran it must have been at least ten miles. 



The hounds pulled her down on the far side of one of the big 

 drains, and G. A. Miller and one of the field swam across and 

 brought the hare back to the rest of us. It was still quite early, 

 but the pace had been so hot that no one wished to draw again. 



Another remarkable day was when we went to hunt the fox 

 at Stretham, where no foxhounds could hunt on account of the 

 " lodes," 1 and where rumour reported they were being dealt with by 

 powder and shot. We soon found a fox on some cabbages, and 

 after running him for 2i hours he hid up in a hedge back after 



being coursed by a collie. At 

 first we thought he was dead, 

 but he first bit one of the 

 Whips, and then met his teeth 

 in "Eanter," the only beagle 

 that attempted to go for him. 

 Then he sat in the ditch with 

 the hounds all round him, and not one daring to touch him. 

 H. H. Clay, however, gave him his quietus with his riding-whip. 

 During the run we had either swum or been ferried over three 

 canals. At one place we had the luck to find a barge turning. We 

 jumped on at one end, ran down it, and jumped off at the other 

 end. That was the most bloodthirsty field I have ever seen, almost 

 every one praying for a bit of fur of any kind, but the hounds would 

 not touch the varmint although I cut him up almost into mincemeat. 

 Now as to those who ran with the beagles in those days. The 

 Whips my first season were — 



H. H. Clay, 

 G. A. Miller, 

 W. E. Pease, 

 and my second season — 



G. A. Miller, 



' Dykes large enough to be navigable by moderate sized barges. 



