HEARSAY. 101 



not above considering^ himself injured if scent and sport 

 are not made exactly according to liis order, and who 

 seldom fliils to express himself much more tersely, 

 pointedly, and unmistakeably than any poor penny-a- 

 liner would dare, 'Nov does Hearsay invariably make the 

 most of things unfavourable. To him a bad job is a bad 



job, or even " a bad job ; " and he declines to 



believe, still less to urge, that there is a " best " side to 

 it at all. Otherwise he might have qualified his con- 

 demnation of ]\[onday, with a saving clause to the effect 

 that plenty of foxes were found in eligible places, though 

 also too many open holes and too little scent. Thus 

 neither Cossington Gorse, Walton Thorns, nor Lord Ayles- 

 ford's covert gave them the required and anticipated run. 

 Nor was Wednesday, January 30th, with the Belvoir 

 at AValtham — though to all appearance a superb hunting 

 day — to be included in Fortune's roll of memorable 

 dates. To-day the foxes, rather than the scent, incurred 

 Hearsay's meed of blame — and he even infers that he 

 came home earlier than he might have done, through 

 giddiness consequent on repeated short rings over the 

 same country. It appears that the scene of the day's 

 operations lay entirely in the Melton district — • com- 

 mencing with a fox from Mr. Burbage's covert. Him 

 they ran to Stapleford, along a route coincident and 

 interwoven with that of railway and river. The latter 

 was brimful; and was instrumental in supplying the 

 leading episode of the trip. Between the water and the 

 railway runs a wedge of flat meadow-land, as far as tliQ 

 Brentingby Crossing ; and along this peninsula rode the 



