214 THE CREAM OF LEICESTEKSHIRE. [Season 



house seem only to re-animate, and he has carried his be- 

 draggled brush out of sight before huntsman or homids have 

 turned the comer of the building. But surel}^ he must die 

 soon, or horses will. Alread}' all are " chancing " their fences 

 alarmingly ; while jumping is to some altogether an im- 

 possibility, and others find further proceedmg out of the 

 question. Double post-and-rails are a little terrifying at the 

 best of times. Small wonder, then, that that crash means 

 exhausted nature recumbent on the second flight; and inex- 

 haustible pluck pulhng a half-blown horse out of the ditch 

 beyond. From the grass to the plough leads the next gate, 

 and stiff timber shows the only opening to the field beyond. 

 Two scrambles, one fall, then a refusal ; and, lastly, a brave 

 chesnut leaning in despair against the strong bars. This is the 

 scene here. Four or five men follow the two Hunt servants, 

 and pass the railway by handgates, for which Neal has a key. 

 lleynard is still struggling on, but the hounds drive him from 

 hedgerow to hedgerow, till they force him again over the 

 railway, push him across haK-a-dozen fields, and spring into 

 some turnips almost with him. At last their heads are up. At 

 last they catch a view. Fifty j-ards fui'ther, a scrambhng, 

 rumbling mass. Who-ivhoop ! " They've got hixa. ! " Who- 

 whoop! *' Wish we could all dine together to-night! " Who- 

 ivlioop! "Wasn't it a cliijper?" "What a comitry ! " 

 "What a fox ! " " Give me a bit of him, if only a pad — to 

 smell when I feel low." Who-ichoop ! " What a week it has 

 been ! " 



It took ten minutes to eat him, and half of that time to 

 bring together even such a remnant of a big field as is com- 

 prised in the following names : Messrs. Powell, Westley 

 Richards, J. Behrens, H. Lowther, Frewen, Brocklehurst, 

 Wilder, W. and E. Chaplin, Custance, and Clayton, and 

 Captains Smith, Boyce, Middleton, and Jacobson. 



The time of the run was a matter difficult of exact attain- 

 ment. Opinions differed widely as to when and whence this 

 particular fox was started ; but that the cream of the thing dated 



