72 THE CRAVEN COUNTRY 



break when the coast was left clear for him, he soon paid 

 the penalty. 



Having eaten him, we went to find another, a couple of 

 miles distant, and as this fox crossed the drive before 

 me, I saw he was not a fresh one, and after a turn or 

 two round the covert, I got at him with ten couples of 

 hounds, in the high wood, by the side of which a drive 

 ran, parallel to the outside, and by galloping and cheering 

 them down this drive, as fast as I could gallop, fox- 

 hounds and myself all came out in view at the bottom, 

 and away we went, racing across a few fields, with only 

 one man besides myself near them, and back into the 

 same coppice where we killed our first ; and here No. 2 

 shared the fate of his companion, being blown up by the 

 pace. 



The Craven country I had known previously, by 

 experience, to hold a poor scent, unless in very wet 

 weather, and from the continuity of woodlands, with 

 short running foxes, requires an active, energetic hunts- 

 man to show sport. Hounds also become slack from 

 their feet being cut and bruised by the flints, which 

 prevent them carrying a head, as in more favoured 

 districts. Villebois, although not equal to hunt hounds, 

 even had he been so inclined, was a good sportsman, 

 entering con amove into the business, and had become 

 the master of a very clever pack, when he was cut off, 

 apparently strong in bodily power, by an attack of 

 influenza. 



