A WEEK AT MELTON 41 



four couple race off with the lead without pausing at 

 all, while the rest strain after them through the crowd 

 of horses, managing to reach their comrades somehow. 



Thus, in spite of all the disadvantages of strong 

 woodlands and deep rides, it is well to make up your 

 mind to be present as often as you can and to take one 

 of your best horses whenever Tilton or Loddington is 

 on the card, and, whatever else you do, you will never 

 miss Owston unless you are laid up altogether. No 

 one goes to Owston to see sights. It is far from a town 

 and not very favourably situated for the railroad. 

 Those who go to Owston go to hunt or to ride, most 

 probably for love of both. There is some rough going 

 round Withcote, a ploughed field or two, and some 

 bottoms only to be crossed by bridges. There are also 

 some beautiful rolling grass fields towards Knossington, 

 on the other side of the wood. 



Perhaps most people know the line best as it appears 

 when they ride from Knossington to Owston. Natu- 

 rally it is the commoner line from the plantations, 

 which Mr. Duncan preserves so carefully for foxes near 

 Knossington Grange, to the woods of Owston and 

 Launde. The fences hereabouts are stiff but jumpable 

 by the ordinary (Leicestershire) man on an average 

 (Leicestershire) horse. They do not require the com- 

 bination of youth and audacity, or a horse out of the 

 common, that the Skeffington Oxer or the fences round 

 Waterloo Gorse demand. Mr. Sawyer on Hotspur 

 could ride over the first, but it would take young Rapid 

 and the King of the Golden Mines to cross the other, 

 and even he might take a fall. There are some stiff 

 posts and rails^ and those who have seen Mr. " Timber " 

 Powell crossing this line of country in the past, will 

 have noted his performance with great but possibly 

 distant admiration. 



