372 THE CREAM OF LEICESTERSHIRE. ]Season 



of the summer Avire came in the way ; where the hedges were 

 too big there was ahva3'S the " bit of timber in the corner," 

 and, where the timber was not to their Hking, generally a gate 

 within reach. The morning was bright and hot as if harvest 

 were just to begin ; and most of the horses were woolly as 

 undipped wethers. But the long gi'ass reeked with cold dew; 

 the turf Avas saturated with recent rain, and all nature was 

 more luxuriant and fresh than at any period of the summer. 

 No wonder there was a scent — over wliicli hounds should revel, 

 and horses melt into sobs and soapsuds. At eight o'clock the 

 pack was basking in the sunshine at Gaddesby Hall — scarcely 

 anybody with them but the staff. At 8.45 they were in Queni- 

 borough Spinne}', the little road-side covert that lies oj)posite 

 Barkby Holt, and above Mr. Cheney's nice 3'oung coverts. 

 Everybody chooses his own time to start cubhunting ; and 

 there had been some little misapprehension as to the rendez- 

 vous. At anj' rate, there were not a score of lookers-on when a 

 brace of lusty cubs romped across the road for the Gaddesby 

 Spinnies. Sudden silence in the clamour told that hounds 

 had no other line in covert ; so they were thrown over the 

 road before many seconds had gone. Down the slope and 

 through the fii-st of the Spinnies they flung. Away below, 

 amid the " stooks " of fresh-cut barley. A locked and rotten 

 gate, or a still more rotten post-and-rails beside it, made, 

 perhaps, the first fence of the season — almost always obliga- 

 tory as a youngster's dip from a bathing machine. The first 

 chill over, blood warmed and instinct glued itself once again 

 to the doings of the spotted beauties. Headstrong and lash- 

 ing were the old ladies of the pack — tasting freedom and a 

 driving scent. Not fifty yards too far, though, did the}" swing 

 in their galloping cast. No crowd to choke the green lane 

 now : and, rounding into it, the}' caught the line where Rey- 

 nard (young or old) had threaded ; and now they Avould teach 

 the puppies what grass and gaiety mean. Under the dazzling 

 sunshine and over the sparkling dew — across the meadows for 

 Barsby. Moderate fences seemed terribly big, for we'd little 



