ISrO— so.] SXATCHED FROM THE FROST. 303 



on terms. The fences were mostl}' safe good jumping — but 

 gaps were dangerous, and foot-jiatli stiles were best avoided 

 for an}' jump twice the size. Pace mended again before 

 Clawson Thorns was reached by a grass-hne ; then slackened 

 off after they had touched the covert and dipped into the 

 Y-Ale. "With steady, pretty hunting they ran np to their 

 sinking fox in an orchard at Clawson Village, bundled him 

 out of this in view, and rolled him over a couple of fields 

 beyond. 



Ah, but the burst from Welby Fishponds had a life and 

 sparkle about it that warmed all the frost out of our frozen 

 veins, and drove the blood through every frame — till the 

 sallowest cheek v>-as red, and the dullest eye grew bright. It 

 was only twenty minutes. But it was twenty minutes after a 

 long frost and little sport — twenty minutes over a superb grass 

 country — and a twenty minutes so fast that horses would all 

 have sobbed to make it five-and-twenty. At Welby Fishponds 

 they found, and at first seemed bound for the tight enclosures 

 of Asfordby parish. But even in the quiet afternoon a shep- 

 herd dog was ready ; and so the start was made the other way. 

 A tiny plantation towards Cant's Thorns served their fox for a 

 covered way as he left. But it was evident in a moment they 

 could run — for the ladies spun over three fields of plough as 

 merril}'^ as over down. Then they launched on to the best of 

 grass, put their heads for Saxelby, and sped along its beautiful 

 vale as fast as they could chatter. The fences of this strong 

 grazing land grow everywhere with all the power of blackthorn 

 on rich soil — each hedgerow, a dense bullfinch, with perhaps 

 only one weak spot or a timbered gap in its length. I tliink I 

 remember each jump, as I saw the leaders race for it, and saw 

 the pack ever half a field ahead of them. I know I shall ride that 

 gallop over again in my dreams to-night — and none the less 

 vividly that I have sat down to jot its outline while it clings 

 fresh with the mud on my coat. That black converging bullfinch 

 seemed for a moment to have caught them all in its grasp ; 



