48 1885. 



were obliged to be stopped, as we again got into 

 a frost-bound country. 



January 19th. — 



There was, happily, no frost to speak of, 

 so we met the hounds at the White Post Gate, 

 at Poyntington, with fair anticipations of sport. 

 At the usual hour the Master moved on, and 

 drew most carefully up Gifford's Combe Farm, 

 bent on the destruction of a fox which was 

 reported to have been far too often in the 

 neighbourhood. But hedges and turnip fields 

 were drawn in vain at first, and it was not till 

 we had got on some little way that a fox was 

 "halloaed" by Harthill and Holway. We got 

 on the line, and ran him back in the direction 

 of Chorlock Hill, over a rough, hilly country, 

 and lost him. In this run we found there was 

 little or no scent, for the lady pack, whose 

 noses are undeniable, could not hold the line 

 a yard. We then drew Trent Barrow, but 

 found in Trent Gully, close by, two fine foxes 

 leaving it in a hurry. We ran fast to the Great 

 Western Railway, where they had a check, the 



