148 England's oldest hunt. 



locally as * Old Meg,' and lies upon Bumper Moor — a moor- 

 land almost rotten and unrideable. A good fox had turned 

 his head that way, and those of us who were left in the run 

 galloped onward. There was no time for warnings on that 

 day, and only those who knew of the existence of ' Old Meg ' 

 saw the end of that wonderful run. Some excellent fellows 

 went home with a good deal of ' Old Meg ' upon their clothes. 

 This particular bog is one of the worst I know. There are 

 places where a horse is up to the saddle-flaps before you can 

 utter the proverbial ' Jack Robinson.' What is the best 

 course to adopt then under such circumstances ? If the 

 mount is really in and the morass lies on sloping ground, 

 let him have his head, then aim down the hill, or to the 

 nearest ling or heather. It is a fact worth remembering, 

 that however bad the ground may be underneath, no horse 

 can sink when the wiry heather or ling is underneath. 



From the nature of the country as described, it will be 

 seen that a big horse is not required, nor yet a very valuable 

 one. 



Since the history of the Farndale Hounds in their present 

 form, so far as information can be gathered, seems to com- 

 mence with the huntsmanship of Joseph Duck, it might be 

 appropriate at the outset to say something regarding him. 

 He was, so far as I can gather, possessed of all that enthusiasm 

 and love of the chase which has distinguished the folk in the 

 neighbouring dales. Something of a character was he too, 

 but because of that isolation in which he lived, and the fact 

 that he rarely left the dale, he gained nothing of the renown 

 of Bobbie Dawson or his Bilsdale contemporaries. Of course, 

 it must be admitted, too, that long as he lived — he died a 

 centenarian — he was not taking an active part in hunting 

 when almost the last of his own genus in the dale. His 

 connection as an official of the Farndale Hounds ended when 

 there were yet many characters of similar sporting tirelessness 

 left in the neighbourhood — hence it is when we come to glance 

 at his life in changed times and altered circumstances that 

 we note the remarkable and admire that which is best in 

 his life, and that of such men as old Jack Carr, Jack Todd, 



