334 THE CREAM OF LEICESTERSHIRE. [Sf.ahos 



miserable fact remains, that no one was found good enough to 

 keep hounds in sight in the best run that has yet come off. I 

 can tell you what happened generally. The plaints and ex- 

 cuses that are forthcoming would fill the volume of the season. 

 A right tm-n at this point or that might, one would fanc}', 

 have made more than one man the hero of the day, and of the 

 winter, l^ut no one got the turn, so at least there is none of 

 the heartburning of envy. As it is, the only note is that of 

 bewailnient, self-reproach, and meagre excuse. 



It wanted five minutes to two in the afternoon when hounds 

 flew to Goddard's scream on tlie Tjaunde side of Launde Wood 

 — the crisp sharp air, that liad succeeded the dripping fog of 

 the morning, bnnging the sound through the wood as clear as a 

 boatswain's wliistle. As we hurried out of the main ride, the 

 fox was just skimming the hillside overlooking the Abbey ; 

 and soon a complete chain of signals marked his route over 

 the two miles to Owston "Wood. Hounds came dashing out, 

 over-eager and headstrong, and flung tlnough and beyond the 

 scent half a dozen times in the hurried scramble across the 

 valley. Between the adjoining properties of Launde and With- 

 cote run two great gulfs. Tlie first could either be rounded 

 by a wide sweep to the road on the right, or be explored left- 

 Avard for a bridge that certainl}' used to exist. It Avas there 

 still, but has been converted from a bridle-Avay to a footbridge, 

 by the appalling expedient of substituting for one of its two 

 gates a stile and footboard. So in single file the body of 

 pursuers on this side had first to squeeze througli a little 

 handgate, and then to jump tlie timber off the bridge. There 

 was no great danger or difficult}^ about the process ; but it took 

 time — and it must be remembered that Ave gallop after the 

 hounds by hundreds, not by scores, in this countr}'. Most 

 l^eople, however, Avho kept pushing on, reached Owston Wood 

 (at a point just opposite Withcote Hall) as soon as the hounds. 

 And noAV comes the turning-point of my dismal story. Directly 

 they were inside the great covert, hounds settled down to run 

 Avith a vigour that we have seldom seen this season — never 



