EARLY DAYS 9 



huntsman to the South Notts, and the farmers of 

 the Belvoir Vale presented the young whipper-in 

 with a silver hunting-horn on his leaving them. 

 " The memory of my three seasons under Mr. 

 John Chaworth Musters is a very pleasant one, for 

 he was the finest of sportsmen and the truest of 

 friends," said Frank of his old master. " Though 

 Mr. Musters rode seventeen stone, no man went 

 better ; and I was the means of supplying him with 

 his best horse, Valesman, a big brown blood hunter 

 which I bought from Mr. Bland, who lived in the 

 Vale of Belvoir. At first Mr. Musters did not like 

 the horse, and said to me, * You think so much of 

 him, let's see you ride him ! ' I did so, and we 

 started a seven mile point from Colville Wood, and 

 killed on the Nottingham and Mansfield road. 

 Valesman carried me splendidly, and I said to Mr. 

 Musters, ' I hope you will never want to ride him 

 again, for I do not want a better to carry me ! ' 

 However, he got to like the horse in time, and 

 when we migrated to the Quorn country no one 

 could catch Mr. Musters on Valesman up and 

 down the hills. From that time he changed his 

 style of horse, and always advocated blood. At 

 the dispersal sale of the Quorn Hunt horses, Vales- 

 man was bought by Mr. Henry Chaplin, who 

 became very fond of him, and though he often sent 

 him up for auction with the rest of his stud, he 

 always bought him in, and was said to have spent 

 hundreds in doing so. Two of my best mounts at 

 this time were greys, Lady Grey and Methodist ; 

 the mare came from Mr. Corbett Holland, and was 



