FARMING AND FOXHUNTING 



in my mind, one never saw him in a boisterous hurry, 

 he never raced at any fence. His usual practice 

 was to trot up and jump it slowly or even walk up 

 and lurch over. I believe his art in hunting the fox 

 was considered even above the average, in any case 

 he was instrumental in building up a fine pack of 

 hounds. 



Towards the end of his Mastership rumours began 

 to circulate that he was slowing up in his effort to 

 show sport ; it may have been in response to these 

 rumours or not, but the fact remains that Joe Willis 

 came on the scene as professional huntsman in the 

 year 1908. Joe turned out to be a good huntsman, 

 which was proved by his long service with the pack. 

 I well remember when he joined us a state of nerves 

 occasionally possessed him. Butt Miller kept an 

 eagle eye upon him and Joe in return kept one eye 

 on the hounds, but the other was always on the 

 Master. This naturally distracted him from showing 

 his best art until he got settled down to his job, and 

 then he continued to show good sport for many 

 years under his two Masters. 



Butt Miller had quite a pleasing personality, but 

 I rather suspect he entertained a vein of sarcasm. 

 There is a very good tale abroad which lends itself 

 to this characteristic. A visitor from Town appeared 

 one day, one, I should imagine, who was a little 

 lacking in the correct technique of hunting for he 

 had been riding hard all day, and on occasion had 

 over-ridden hounds. Towards the end, having 

 enjoyed himself, he decided to thank the Master for 

 showing such good sport, and rode up to him and 



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