36 THE CREAM OF LEICESTERSHIRE. [Seasox 



The country certain!}' was not like the oft-quoted Oxendon or 

 Skeffington, where one may see occasional deeds of daring 

 verging on the marvellous ; but the line was stiif and the pace 

 tremendous, and a better and more numerous first-flight never 

 rode to hounds than to-day. Among the large concourse out 

 there were none of the crude elements that enter so pro- 

 minently into a meet near a town ; l)ut in this wild district 

 everybody comes out from love of hunting, and a great 

 jiroportion have little to learn in the matter of riding over 

 a country. 



One piece of deep plough some three fields after passing Lad}' 

 "Wood gave the hounds room enough to work and turn un- 

 fettered, and, this advantage gained, tliey held themselves just 

 clear over the undulating grass towards Knossington, keeping 

 their field sti'uggling hard to live with tliem. Scrambling 

 into the road before reaching the village, they bore up the 

 steep slope to the right, and allowed the moment's breathing 

 time that enabled many a good nag to live to the end who 

 otherwise must have kneed a binder or dropped into a ditch in 

 another five minutes. On again round the farmhouse on the 

 hill, Mr. Tailby, on his white horse, gliding over a wide and 

 hidden oxer with an ease that led a dozen followers, some to 

 grief — all into a belief that nothing lay beyond. But, let the 

 fence be what it may in other places, there were twenty men all 

 flying it abreast, and boring the next thick black bullfinch like 

 a sieve. Hounds are generally hindered by fences more than 

 horses ; but so quick were they through the old thorn hedges 

 that it was all that men could do to keep an eye on them. 

 Timber offered the cleanest jumping, and timber was for- 

 tunately plentiful enough for the rush upon it ; but as horses 

 began to catch their wind the farmers suffered in proportion, 

 and a harvest of work was left behind for village carpenters. 

 To say what happened in such a run is next door to an 

 impossibility. One eye to watch the hounds and cut off every 

 available yard of ground : one eye to hit off the likeliest spot 

 without dwelling or interfering with your neighbours ; and 



