250 THE CREAM OF LEICESTERSHIRE. [Season 



So they went on to Billesdon Coplow, with a vain appeal, on 

 the way, to Lord Moreton's little gorse at Cold Newiion ; and 

 at the Coplow, or rather in its twin covert, Botan}' Bay, they 

 hit upon a whole hev}' of what the wild-stag huntsman im- 

 piously called " the little red beasts." The first holloa away, 

 over the historic mound, was only met with a remark that 

 " the old fox would do for another day ; " and hounds were 

 busily at Avork, now in one part, now in another, of the good 

 thorn thickets. A second holloa told that the fox they were 

 running had gone ; and this time they were encouraged for- 

 ward in earnest. No juvenile fugitive was this, either. He 

 knew where other shelter was to be found, and he had travelled 

 the road before. Surmounting the Coplow, he dipped over 

 towards Billesdon and crossed into " Tomlin's Spmney " — the 

 little plantation opposite. There had been but the weakest 

 scent in covert ; and hounds could never push their fox. 

 Now their heads were into an east wind ; the}- were right at 

 his brush, and on the best of grass. Many Quornites will re- 

 member how, one day last winter, from this very point hounds 

 sHpped suddenly away from every one — two or three of the very 

 quickest men alone excepted — and lost their field for the morn- 

 ing ? This Tomlin's Spinney lies under the crest of a rough 

 hill, cut oif from direct approach by a thick and high-grown 

 fence that has no practicable breach. To reach the nearest 

 opening entails a circuit of quite two hundred j^ards — and we 

 have all experienced, to om' grief and to our joy, what difference 

 a couple of hundred yards will make, when hounds are going 

 their best over an enclosed country. To hurry to the gate, to 

 twist back over the side fence, did not take long. But the 

 pack were already well over the brow ; and it was only the flash 

 of the last white body that told where they had pierced the 

 farther fence of the next field. To ride, or to lose^ hounds, 

 was all the choice presented. The fences came quick and 

 often — the thorns cut fair, but the ditches a trap. But, such 

 is the virtue of excitement, example, and of no-time-to-think, 

 that not even a four year old was caught — and a three year old 



