ii6 THE BEST OF THE FUN 



To reach Hallington involves a long ride or drive from 

 the banks of the Tyne. But as one rises quickh^ to the upper 

 level, sucii wide views of eligible — nay, beautiful — ground 

 present themselves in succession that the journey should 

 never be tedious or unattractive, unless, as I may now 

 proceed to add, in a blinding snowstorm, such as set upon 

 us this Wednesday morning ! A well-equipped dogcart 

 and unruffled company will, however, laugh off even 

 snowflakes ; and, after all, the same distant landscapes 

 were visible and attractive enough in the evening sunshine, 

 by-and-by. Riders fared not so well ; for they carried 

 on their way a wealth of snow that fairly crystallised 

 them from hat to knee, till they could dismount to shake 

 it off. 



Nor ought I to omit comment on the bridle-paths 

 which lead so freely across country to the Tynedale meets, 

 taking you through one great enclosure of galloping 

 ground after another as cheerily as, for instance, the 

 grassy track from Twyford to Owston. And, mark you, 

 there is not a railway or canal from end to end of the 

 Tynedale country ! One of the canons of my faith, 

 from Shetland-ponyism, has ever been that a " gallop to 

 covert in Leicestershire is as good as hunting in any other 

 country." But I had not ridden to covert upon Tyneside. 

 I shall never again quote the axiom now. 



Snow had ceased to fall long ere Hallington was 

 reached — indeed it seemed to have confined its attack 

 chiefly to the bank of the river and to the distant Cheviots. 

 A cold breeze had succeeded ; but the day was fine ; and 

 there was a scent. 



Hounds began by killing a fox in the Hallington 

 Plantations. Then they gave us a dozen minutes' scurry 

 to a drain by the waterworks — over ground so typical of 

 this section of Northumberland that I feel prompted to 

 set forth each minute and each feature in detail, for edu- 

 cation of southerners such as myself. Take them thus — 

 and if I am prolix beyond fair licence, remember indul- 

 gently that I am as one whose main subject is to be now 

 thrown up for the summer. Hallington New Covert — 

 young whin and young larch (the covert, I am told, that 



