160 England's oldest hunt. 



and his hounds on the moors near Blakey. But it was as a trout-fisher 

 that I knew him best. He taught the whole family of nine of us ; 

 and my father and mother, who were very strict as to our bringing up, 

 trusted us to ' Old Duck ' with the greatest confidence — a confidence 

 which he thoroughly deserved, for I never knew a more guileless, simple- 

 minded man in my life, and under the most exasperating circumstances 

 and worst of sport, I never heard a word from his lips but such ' as 

 becometh saints.' His patience was inexhaustible and nothing ever 

 ruffled his temper. ' Soa,' was his nearest approach to an expletive 

 when ' partic'lar fine fellows ' were lost and things went wrong. He 

 was, like many who engage in solitary sport, extremely taciturn ; 

 but such brief snatches of conversation as he indulged in were ever as 

 innocent as a child. We all fished with him more or less, but my brother 

 Cecil, my uncle, the Rev. G. T. Hudson, and myself were his most 

 frequent companions, and I was able to keep up my friendship and sport 

 with him the longest, indeed, until shortly before his death. Many a 

 long day's tramp we had with him in Rosedale, Farndale, Bransdale, 

 Sleightholmedale, and on many of the lesser tributaries of the main 

 becks, every one of which and every inch of each he knew by heart. 

 After a ' fresh ' we always expected him, and eagerly I used, as a small 

 boy, to scan the ' rigg ' dividing the Spaunton Moors from Farndale ; 

 then what joy to see his well-known figure appearing on the skyline, 

 striding away, walking well from the hips with measured tread — a gait 

 which he never varied, the very way to get over the ground for long 

 distances. Soon he would arrive, his pockets full of little tins containing 

 various grubs, and perhaps a bottle of minnows and loaches ; then he 

 would decide which particular stream would be in best order for fishing, 

 and off we would go for a long and happy day, returning at evening in 

 triumph with a basket full of ' partic'lar fine troots.' 



He was a fly-fisher and a skilful one too, but it was with bait and 

 natural minnow that he excelled. The Dock grub was perhaps his 

 favourite bait, and with it he once caught a 5-lb. trout in the Dove, 

 just below his house. His rod was made by himself, in two pieces, 

 which he spliced together when in use. The butt, a piece of ash about 

 6| feet long, the other piece was lancewood of similar length with a bit 

 of whalebone at the tip. It was painted green, and as in size and 

 colour the lower half resembled the housemaid's broom handle. I used 

 chaffingly to call it his broomstick. He used no reel either on this 

 or on his fly rod (which was also made by himself) in those days, though 

 in later years he had an ordinary fly rod with reel and rings. At the 

 end of his long rod was a horsehair loop, to which he attached a line 

 of the same material, with a gut bottom. To shorten his line he would 

 turn the rod round and round in his hands, sometimes until the hook 

 and bait were wound right up to the rod end, then he would thrust 

 it through the smallest openings in the alders and bushes which overhung 



