418 THE CREAM OF LEICESTERSHIRE. [Seasox 



and Larisclie, Colonel Cliippindall, Captains Boyce, Smith, 

 IMiddleton, Mol3'neux, Henry, Messrs. Adair, Beaumont, E. 

 Chaplin, Parker, Hose, Blacker, Charlton, Knowles, Selb}', 

 Brand, Moseley, Cradock, Geary, Younger, Martin (2), F. S. 

 Stanley, Smith, Brewster, and Downs, besides several ladies 

 who can really ride to hounds. 



Well, the pack did suddenly cross the bottom ; ni}' doleful 

 history is fairly embarked, and I must be allowed to deck it as 

 I go with such incident as appears to have ftillen to the lot of 

 those who had even a brief passing share in the run. I can still 

 see the maddened despairing throng bleating up and down the 

 bank of that impassable Styx — see them as I have seen them 

 in daylight and in dream ever since, whether when I have 

 slunk with head averted on the outskirts of Cottesmore and 

 Belvoir field, shunning the hot cross-fire of quip and question ; 

 or when in the still darkness tied, again and again, on to the 

 back of a nigbtmare whose head bored steadily into the hateful 

 chasm. They seemed paralysed Avith the hopelessness of the 

 situation — no bridge, no ford in front, behind them a quarter 

 of mile of wire fencing, and the pack flitting rapidly out of 

 sight into the foggy distance. For a long time they would not 

 even accept the position as impossible, and retrace their steps 

 to get out of it. So with most of them their experience of the 

 morning's sport ended then and there. Mr. Adair, Captain 

 Middleton, and the Duke of Portland were the first to rush 

 back, to clear the carriage drive, and gallop through the village 

 along the road to WiUoughb}' — with a result that we shall see. 

 Meanwhile a slender scattering of the field had kept outside 

 the Park, its wire and its unbridged gully; and joined the 

 pack as it crossed the latter and the parallel road to Wysall. 

 "Willoughby Gorse lies some two miles away; and thither these 

 latter rode a nice line — Mr. Martin (of Rempstone) and Mr. 

 Brand on the right-hand side of the Willoughby Brook, Captain 

 Molyneux, Mr. Brewster, and one or two others on the left (I 

 w^rite of course as I could glean, and must be allowed at least 

 a fair margin for error). Without actually entering the Gorse, 



