JACK 399 



with the Harriers. It is doubtful whether there is any other 

 horse goino- with the Iissex Hounds that has been hunted so 

 long. 



In eighteen seasons Jack may well have been expected to 

 learn a thing or two, and so he has, for he will pop over iron 

 railings as readily as a sheep hurdle ; how his owner found out 

 he possessed this accomplishment may be briefly told. On one 

 occasion of partnership dissolved in Mark Hall Park, " Jack " 

 made off for the lodge gates, where Mr. Sewell fondly imagined 

 that he had cornered the runaway. Not a bit of it ; turning to 

 one side, " Jack " popped over the iron railings. Although 

 very blown from his burst across the park after his horse, 

 Mr. W. H. S. was not sorry to see this feat, and determined if 

 ever the occasion should arise to turn the accomplishment to his 

 own advantage. Fortune favoured him, for not many days 

 afterwards, when hounds were running at a great pace across 

 Hylands Park, their followers were brought up by some high 

 iron railings, and a chained gate. Putting "Jack" at the 

 wire, he jumped it like a buck, without the slightest hesitation. 



"Jack" exemplifies again the wisdom of sticking to a good 

 horse when you get one. One of my earliest recollections of 

 Mr. Sewell in '79, before I made his acquaintance, was seeing 

 him By over a yawner near Belgium Springs in a run from 

 Harlow Park, and when one used to hear even the stick-at- 

 nothing George Dawson call him " owdacious " I suppose he 

 was. Mr. Sewell is one of the few members of the Hunt who 

 received the Hunt button at the Master's hands before the 

 Hunt Club was formed and acquired the right to confer the 

 button, being one of the lucky few who, with Bob Ball, received 

 it in memory of the famous run from Parndon Woods on 

 March 12th, '81. 



How long a stag would exist without artificial feeding in 

 our Roothing country I am unable to state, but I imagine that 

 he would have no difficulty in obtaining a living if left in peace, 

 however much he might deteriorate in value and appearance 

 when no longer fed upon the best clover hay, old beans, and 

 peas. News that a stag has been left out soon travels far afield, 

 so there are always plenty of willing friends on the look-out in 

 every direction for any intelligence that may lead to his recaj)- 

 ture. In this case the first intimation Mr. Neave received of 

 the whereabouts of his lost deer was in the form of a telegram 

 upon Saturday morning from the Rev. M. Wilson, to the effect 

 that she had been harboured in Canfield Hart, and inviting 

 him to bring his hounds out upon the following Tuesday to 

 take her. 



