44 THE CREAM OF LEICESTERSHIRE. [Seasox 



st^'le in which thej'' kept pushing forwards, till the enigma was 

 solved h}^ their running into their precui'sive sisters above 

 Billesdon Coplow. 



With a beaten fox close ahead, it was long odds that the com- 

 bined force would be able to finish the work so effectually 

 carried on by lialf the corps ; but it took some time j-et to do 

 it. The scent was now never much higher than their toes, and, 

 though the}' never let it slip away from them, they had to stoop 

 to hold it — and to conquer. The rough wild country and the 

 want of pace were galling in tlie extreme to the lunrl element, 

 who were there in abundance from every quarter ; but for those 

 who were content to witness true painstaking hunting there was 

 continual pleasure, and a satisfactory finish. No hounds in the 

 world could have worked more perseveringly and well than did 

 the new Quorn pack. 



They hunted on without check or hindrance past Lord 

 Moreton's stables at Cold Newton, and reached John o' Gaunt 

 again in an hour and twenty minutes from the moment when 

 *' Forrard away ! " wa§ sounded from its side. Twenty minutes 

 more took them through and beyond into a trail of i)lougli : ten 

 minutes pretty quick on tlie grass took the last strength out of 

 their game ; and five minutes more brought him out of the 

 l)lantation above Lowesb}- stift' and stark. A hunting run of 

 an hour and fift3'-five minutes, without losing the line for five 

 minutes, and with a proper wind up at the end, is something 

 out of the common. Many of those who Avere out will say, 

 " Thank Heaven it is ! " but they did not see Col. Chaplin's 

 three-quarters of an hour, or the}' might speak differently. 

 That it was the same fox Avas proved by those who saw him 

 carr}' his scantily-clad stern away from the covert, and who 

 assisted at his obsequies afterwards. Peace to his ashes ! 

 Like the Roehoe fox of last year, he showed that raiment has 

 little to do with vulpine pluck and endurance. 



