THE BRAES OF DERWENT COUNTRY. 113 



travelled from tlae Derwent to the Tyne and back, the finish 

 was within three miles ol the find." This, as I have said, 

 was almost if not quite the best day I ever had with Mr. Priest- 

 man's pack, for scent waa extraordinarily good, and both 

 fc'xes something quite out of the common. Theorei is a narrow 

 plantation on Horsegate Farm, two fields away from! Chopwedl, 

 and I seem to recollecit that thei first, fox was found therei, and 

 not in Chopwell itself. That, however, is of little consequence. 

 What I remember is that he only skirted the north side of the 

 coverti, and worked round in a wide sweep over the Barlow 

 country to the Tyne near Prudhoe. Still bending round, 

 hounds came right back to the Derwent, close tot Rowlands 

 Gill Station, and, turning again, sent their fox toi ground in 

 the artificial earth in Bradley Dene, which earth was made 

 by Mr Owen Wallis when he resided at Bradley Hall some 

 thirty years ago. The great thing about this run waa 

 the pace ; there were checks, of course, for there must be in a 

 hunt which lasts three hours, but the pace was always good. 

 The countiry rode light, in spite of the run taking place in 

 January, and horses were all beat at the end. In fact, only 

 those who had second horses out stayed on for the af teirnoon 

 hunt, which came from Hyons Wood, in that part of the 

 eastern country which has yet to be described. Hyons Wood 

 is in: a small valley, and the bigger part, of the covert is on the 

 south side of the brook which runs through it. As a rule, the 

 field go up the open part of the wood on this south side, and 

 on this occasion several of them followed the usual plan, while 

 a few remained in the cartway which goes through the north 

 end of the covert. The fox broke on this side, and hounds 

 were away so fast, that they had topped the hill called Mickley 

 Moor before those on the south side had time to reach the 

 bottom of the covert, and none of this contingenti ever saw 

 hounds again. Meantime the pack turned left^-handed just 

 beyond the summit of the hill, and ran over a fine grass 

 country, with not a single covert in it, until they reached 

 Apperley Dene, where the fox was headed just as he waa on 

 the point of entering Fotherly Gill. He then went, down the 

 valley through Hindley to the village of Stocksfield, where he 

 was lost in the darkness. It was afterwards discovered that 

 he had crouched on the wheel of an old water-mill, and he 



