36 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 



country. There was some difficulty about the 

 hounds, as they belonged to Mr. Colmore's 

 executors, who insisted on their being sold by 

 auction, and the hunt horses were also sold at 

 the same time. The sale took place at Chelten- 

 ham in July of 1871, and on behalf of the hunt 

 committee (who raised funds for the purpose) 

 I bought most of the pack for about nine hundred 

 guineas. I also purchased half a dozen of 

 the hunt horses on my own account ; the re- 

 mainder of my stud I got chiefly from Mr. George 

 Reeves of Reading, a well-known horsedealer in 

 those days. Tom Hills had been the huntsman 

 for some time, and I re-engaged him ; the new 

 whippers-in were Dick Russell and Will Jones. 

 Joe Tit comb became my second horseman, and 

 I believe the latter is with them still in the same 

 position. With forty-eight couples of hounds and 

 about twenty horses I commenced cub-hunting 

 on the 4th of September 1871 ; my headquarters 

 were at the Plough Hotel at Cheltenham, and 

 I had to be at the kennels (about a mile from 

 there) every morning long before daylight in order 

 to start with the hounds, as I did not know a yard 

 of the country. Early in the season Tom Hills met 

 with an accident and injured his leg, which left 

 us in rather a fix, so I had to hunt the hounds my- 

 self, and I did so throughout most of that season. 



