SPORT IN SEASON. 105 



hard quarter of an hour — till again involved in the rail- 

 Avay. So to Ashwell, by bridge and crossing and arch 

 and padlocked gate — threading the line, whereon exter- 

 mination threatened hounds every quarter of a mile. 

 But these are days in which even engine drivers read of 

 how wars are made and foxes are hunted. Train after 

 train slackened or pulled up to give the pack time ; and 

 ours I fancy was the more dangerous progress. It 

 certainly was when we reached the Ashwell Vale, by 

 which time all courage had fairly cooled and men merely 

 sauntered after hounds — letting the unravelment of 

 sandwich-papers and the disentanglement of their fox's 

 course divide their attention in proportions somewhat in 

 favour of the former study. High flights, whether of 

 intellect, enthusiasm, or high timber, are scarcely the 

 natural outcome of minds relaxed. Yet now of a sudden 

 they found themselves in a position that would have been 

 scarcely welcome with temperament at boiling point. 

 A new ironstone waggon-way, bounded on either side by 

 lofty post-and-rails, had been built across the valley ; and 

 the Ashwell brook — diverted into a newly-dug channel — 

 came at right angles to form a corner. A workman 

 beckoned across the railway to point their fote ; the 

 hounds were already over — and the freshly sawn timber 

 rose menacingly white and stiff. A dozen ready pair of 

 arms were quickly at work to force an opening ; but the 

 oak-posts declined to move, or the ash-rails to do more 

 than bend and spring back. At this moment Capt. Blair 

 was to be seen riding along the low embankment. How 

 did he get there ? D.Iust be a nice hole farther back, of 



