18 TWICE TOLD TALES 



mentioned from my note book, as proving that our 

 hounds could run as well as hunt. 



" Three o'clock, p.m. Eound a fox in Greatwood, 

 which, after a turn round the covert (more than 

 one hundred acres), went away towards Vastern ; 

 being headed, the hounds turned short with him, 

 and kept close to his brush until he again reached 

 Greatwood, through which they rattled him into 

 the Dauntsey Vale below; over this they Avent 

 at a tremendous pace, crossing a nasty brook 

 (in which many got a ducking), and the Malmes- 

 bury turnpike road, into Charlton pond plantation ; 

 through this and Ravenswood, over Somerford 

 Common, into Webb's woods (three miles extent 

 of woodlands without changing scents), up to 

 Lidiard Park, where they got up to their fox, and 

 forcing him out of covert, killed him in the open 

 by themselves, without any assistance from the 

 find to the finish. Time, one hour and fourteen 

 minutes. Ground traversed by the hounds, not 

 much under thirty miles." 



After leaving Greatwood the second time, 

 until they were returning from Lidiard with their 

 fox's head, I never caught a glimpse of the pack ; 

 and all the best riders, like myself, were completely 

 shut out of the run, from the quiet and quick 

 manner in which they slipped away from covert ; 



