346 THE COACHING AGE. 



■him of the fox he had seen running across the field, 

 which was one of his own escaped. The other, 

 however, was to be sent to Leadenhall ; and in order 

 that there might be no complaint of its being tame, 

 like the one previously purchased, the plan was 

 adopted of giving it several cuts with a stick while 

 in the bag, which had the desired eifect, as when 

 taken out in the purchaser's room, it bolted all about 

 the place, and fully established its character for wild- 

 ness. 



These foxes were conveyed without causing any 

 quarrel or dispute with anyone ; but it was otherwise 

 with a gentleman who was going down grouse-shoot- 

 ing by the Leeds ' Courier ' from the Belle Savage, and 

 had his dog on the footboard with him. The coach 

 was driven between Northampton and Nottingham by 

 two men, Dick Evans and Bob Bennett, one up and 

 the other down. Bennett was a rough, uncouth sort 

 of man, and when the coach came down, and he saw 

 the dog on the footboard, he asked whose it was. 

 'Mine,' said the gentleman, who was a captain. 

 Bennett said he wasn't going to let the dog be there, 

 and he'd have it off; when the captain let him 

 understand that if he interfered with the dog in any 

 way he'd give him a thrashing. Somehow or other, 

 when they got to Loughborough, matters came to 

 a crisis, and they had a set-to, Bennett was floored 



