AND STIRLINGSHIRE HUNT 



confidence in his mare and she did not dis- 

 appoint him." 



In point of fact, Mr Blackwood dismounted after 

 jumping the first gate, hoping to be able to open 

 the second, but finding this impossible, remounted, 

 and then jumped it also after the delay thus occa- 

 sioned — a circumstance which very much enhances 

 the performance. Mr Barstow also graphically 

 relates how on one occasion, when both Atkin- 

 son and the first whipper-in, Harry Wells, were 

 laid up, George Tait,^ the kennelman, acted as 

 huntsman. 



"This day [25th January, 1872] commenced with 

 a very amusing turnout. Atkinson, having a care- 

 ful wife, had been vaccinated to preserve his good 

 looks. His arm swelled the size of his leg, and 

 he could not get upon his horse. Harry, the first 

 whip, was laid up with a bad cold and sore throat, 

 caught looking after the lost hounds amongst the 

 Moor foot hills. The second whip was to the fore, 

 but as no one was there whom the hounds would 

 recognise, George, the kennelman, was mounted. 

 A capital figure ! A very tall man, clad in grey, 

 wearing a hunting cap to distinguish his calling. 

 He rode with long legs and very short stirrups, 

 his knees up to his nose, and his heels spurring 

 almost the back of his horse, instead of its flanks ; 

 and spur away he did to try to keep the hounds 

 together, who very soon discovered their chief was 

 wanting. What a splendid caricature might have 



1 Now kennelman in the Duke of Buccleuch's establishment. 



233 



