CHAPTER V. 



DICK SIMPSON, HUNTSMAN. 



Dick Simpson came from the Puckeridge ; but 

 I think he had spent a year on a farm he had just 

 bought before coming. He had the character 

 of catching his foxes too quickly. The Grafton 

 foxes when they once get upon their legs require 

 some catching. He was nick-named " Dirty 

 Dick," which was a slander, for, beyond carrying 

 a dab of mud in the hollow of his ear for two or 

 three days, there was nothing to complain of on 

 the score of cleanliness. A more civil man there 

 could not have been, and he had, as a rule, a 

 shy, retiring manner. After a fox fresh found 

 he was a demon, with a charming voice, and 

 a fine-toned horn. He delighted Mr. Clarke, the 

 Royal keeper. " Hark at him ! " he would say; 

 '' he puts the ' demi-semi ' into it ! " 



Lord Southampton sent him on the first morn- 

 ing of cub-hunting sixteen miles to Easton Horn 



