232 THE CREAM OF LEICESTERSHIRE. [Seasok 



and oldest leaders, whose nerve still remains stronger than his 

 e3^esight, was as near as possible plunging) ; and so to Croxton 

 Park. Here theii- fox was so dead beat by the pace of the past 

 fortjj minutes that a man on foot was running after him to catch 

 him. But he slipped through a hole in the park wall ; and 

 when hounds came up close behind, they missed him, overshot 

 the line, and failed to recover it. 



WITHOUT HOUNDS AXD WITH. 



Saturday, February 23rd, with the Cottesmore, and again a 

 steady undeniable scent. Tliey did not find at Eanksboro — 

 probably for the untoward reason that a few days previousl}'^ 

 tliey had choi)ped no less than tJwce foxes together, in a small 

 clump of gorse adjacent. 



There was sport in the afternoon for some few — though, as 

 too often happens at the large woods, it was lost by the bulk of 

 a field that is neither slack nor caTeless. As hounds crashed 

 through the whole length of Owston "Wood (from the "Little 

 Wood ") all hands either dashed down its sides or scrambled 

 through its miry dei)ths, in desperate determination to keep on 

 terms. As the western extremity was reached, many issued 

 mudstained and lieated, at tlie same moment as a Imndred 

 others galloped breathlessly round to the same point. But the 

 clamorous music of the pack, that a moment before was to be 

 heard raging alongside, no longer reached the ear. How could 

 it be so suddenly hushed? "Where are the hounds?" 

 "Was anyone here when the}' reached the end?" No one 

 had seen them. But somebody had viewed a fox crossing a 

 far hillside towards Jolm o' Gaunt. This was explanation 

 enough. " They must have stolen away before we got here." 

 A sportsman in black* forthwith set off at a gallop over Whad- 

 borough Hill. The example w^as contagious, and fifty men at 

 once started to ride after him. Glancing behind he saw, as he 

 * Honouralile J. D. 



