198 England's oldest hunt. 



which I suppose we must designate as the head-quarters of the Sinning- 

 ton Hunt, where there is a small kennel, and the day before he goes 

 round and collects his pack. Of course, no feeding is required that 

 evening, and he only has to take them to the meet next day, find his 

 fox, and kill him. The sport over, he troubles no further, but just 

 rides home again ; and one of the most amusing sights I have ever 

 witnessed is to see the independent manner in which his pack take their 

 different routes. They by no chance take the wrong turn in the road, 

 but will stop in twos, threes, or singly, as the case may be, sit upon 

 their ht .inches a few minutes, and watch him, as if to make sure that 

 he does not intend to draw again, and when satisfied on this point, 

 put their sterns over their backs and trot leisurely off. By the time he 

 reaches Kirbymoorside, he is entirely deserted, save by a few whose 

 quarters are in or about that place. Some of them have frequently 

 to go as far as fifteen miles alone, but they are seldom or never lost, 

 and no instance is known of their killing sheep or doing mischief on the 

 road. . . . The country is composed of dingles, woods and steep hills, 

 where parts of it lie on the moor, where at times they find wild foxes 

 that run the horses clean out of sight, and the hounds are not heard 

 of for a day of two. 



Jack was a hard and somewhat jealous rider, especially 

 when any strangers were out. Anxious he always was to 

 show them sport, but he ever seemed to hold the assumption 

 they intended to over-ride hounds, or, at any rate, to throw 

 dirt in the eyes of the Sinnington brigade. Never did he 

 ride " fiercer " (as we say in Yorkshire) than on these occa- 

 sions, and a few days prior to writing this chapter, I came 

 across a sporting farmer, Mr. Sturdy Watson, who, as a 

 little lad, rode in races on the Hambleton Hills, Scarborough 

 sands, and elsewhere. He commenced his hunting career 

 under Jack Parker, and on setting off from home in the morn- 

 ing on some blood 'un or other he was urged by his father 

 to keep in the first flight, and promised a thrashing and no 

 more hunting as an alternative. But the Sinnington hunts- 

 man did not approve of this young lad passing him, and 

 on one occasion (I do not know if he had been over-riding 

 hounds) Sturdy only escaped a horse-whipping by the good 

 offices of a friend, who acted as mediator between the lad 

 and Jack. There were not many who succeeded in getting in 

 front of him over a moorland country, and it was a wonder 

 to many how he escaped with the few falls he had on the 



