THE RULE OF Mr. GEORGE LANE FOX. 167 



up to them, they were running a stale Hne back. It was a 

 grand clay's sport if it could only all have been seen. 



It was not long before the frost came in earnest, and 

 caused a stoppage of a week, and after it broke up there 

 was a succession of bad and indifferent scentincj days till 

 December 13th. On the 3rd they had a fair hunting day 

 at Tadcaster Bar, and hounds behaved to perfection, hunting 

 well and closely with a wretched scent, and though they 

 failed to kill a fox, they marked one to ground. 



'December 13th. Wescoe Hill. Riffa, blank. .V ringing fox 

 'from Almscliff Whin; scent bad; killed below North 

 ' Rigton. Tried Beckwithshaw Bottoms and Thurtle's 

 'Whin, blank. Found in Walton Head Whin; ran very 

 ' fast into Spofforth Haggs, left Kirkby Overblow on the 

 ' left, across the Punch Bowl, heading for Harewood Bridge, 

 ' turned to the right, left Swindon on the right, up the hill 

 ' to Walton Head. Twenty-six minutes. Long check, the 

 ' fox having skirted the whin and gone to Kirkby village, 

 'where we lost him. Found in the Punch Bowl; away 

 ' to the river, past Harewood Bridge to Rougemont Carr, 

 ' over Dunkeswick Hill, left Swindon to the right, Kirkby 

 ' on the left, across the Punch Bowl to the river, and 

 ' crossed. Stopped hounds near Cardwick. One hour and 

 ' ten minutes ; dark.' 



The cause of the long check was that the fox had 

 skirted Walton Head Whin, and run the road, in a drain 

 under which he had gone to ground. Intelligence to this 

 effect was brought to Smith, but when he arrived at the 

 drain, it was to find that the fox had been bolted by some 

 busybodies, and practically the run ended at Walton Head 

 Whin. In a few days frost came again with renewed energy, 

 and put a stop to hunting till December 24th, this being the 

 only day hounds were out from the 17th to New Year's 

 Day. And Christmas Eve was a clay to remember, for it 

 was one of the severest days of a season in which severe 

 runs were plentiiul. 



