HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS. 41 



" nasty beast," and he never forgot to remind me 

 of our first meeting. He became a most valued 

 friend, and it would be impossible to express the 

 terrible blank his death caused in our circle. 



One evening when he went home after 

 hunting, he told his boy to put his boots on the 

 trees. 



" Yessir," replied Jack, who had only just 

 taken on the job of valet. 



It was a pouring wet night and, when Mr. 

 Tabor looked out in the morning, there were his 

 boots hanging on the trees outside the window. 



" Jack, you rascal, what have you been up 

 to with my boots ? " 



" Done as you told me, sir, and put 'em on 

 the trees at once." 



I beUeve this episode appeared in Punch, 

 with a drawing by Charles Keane, who was a 

 friend of Mr. Montagu, the late Rector of 

 Hawkwell, and the former occasionally stayed 

 with him; and this neighbourhood provided 

 material for many of his pictures in Ptmch. 



So long as his health lasted, I cannot 

 remember the run when Charles was not there, 

 and it would be difficult to come across a field 

 that he could not find a way out of. He had a 

 horse called " Treacle," generally known as the 

 ** Steam Roller," and when he came to a nasty 

 hairy, black fence which no one cared to tackle, 

 Treacle would paw and stamp, and crawl until 

 there was a hole big enough to drive a carriage 

 and pair through. But oh ! the horror of finding 

 him in front of you, filling up the only gap, when 

 your animal was a keen jumper, and one which 



