FAMOUS SERVANTS OF THE HUNT 



diary ; but it is to their credit that the disagreement 

 is not mentioned. We need not therefore rake up 

 from the past a forgotten quarrel, but let the matter 

 rest as they left it. The extracts from the two 

 diaries tell us all we need seek to know. The last 

 entry in Will Long's diary, dated October i8th, 

 1855, is as follows : — 



"The Duke sent Nimrod Long home for striking 

 the hound Piper, and the same evening sent for 

 me and Nimrod to his room, and after some little 

 talk, I gave him notice that Nimrod and myself 

 would leave the service. I hunted forty-seven 

 times in this season previous to my leaving, and 

 killed sixty foxes." 



On October 20th the Duke makes his first entry 

 in the books he kept up with such care during the 

 time he hunted the hounds. The only allusion to 

 the circumstances under which he determined to 

 carry the horn himself is as follows : — 



" The huntsman, Bill Long, having retired, and 

 Nimrod Long, his son, the first whipper-in, leaving 

 me also on Thursday, the 18th of October, I take 

 to the hounds myself, with the second whipper-in, 

 Bill Walker, and a boy, Tom Goddard, to whip 

 m. 



Long retired, like his predecessors, on a pension, 

 and he often came out to see the pack he had made, 

 working under the young master. 



In another part of this book the story of the Duke 

 as huntsman is told in his own words, and we may 



161 



