68 RUN WITH THE ME A TH 



be pushed too soon In cold-scenting countries, or on 

 bad scenting- days, I do not think that it is requisite to 

 give the same amount of Maw.' On the occasion in 

 question the day was everything which could be 

 wished for, and there was a burning scent ; every- 

 thing was as it should be, even to the proverbial 

 * southerly wind and cloudy sky,' when our master 

 (my friend the late Mr. S. Reynell) made his appear- 

 ance at Ratoath to draw a two-rood stick covert which 

 had been made to hold foxes while a gorse covert was 

 being prepared for the purpose. We had imported 

 some greyhound foxes from Strath Therrick, near to 

 the celebrated Fall of Foyers, in the highlands of 

 Inverness-shire. The previous year these foxes w^ere, 

 at my request, allowed a 'jubilee,' the consequence 

 being that when the hounds were thrown into covert 

 that day there were too many foxes afoot, no fewer 

 than nine being seen, and two were ' chopped.' The 

 hounds were then clapped on to a third one, which 

 got so pressed that after a short ring of about a quarter 

 of an hour it returned to the covert, and the earth 

 being opened, it was very wisely let in, as too much 

 blood had already been shed in that little stick covert. 

 Having thus arranged for the safety of the home-bred 

 fox, a shepherd whom I could trust told me that an 

 old Scotch fox, which we knew well, and which he 

 described as being of an enormous size and with a 

 white tag to his brush, had slipped away before the 

 first two ; and so I informed our master of the fact and 

 begged him to lay the hounds on his line, although he 

 had been gone some eighteen minutes previously. 

 Of all the runs I ever enjoyed in the whole course 

 of my life I think that fox afforded me the best, and I 



