1871] TOM LEEDHAM. 305 



Through thrift and good management, he left as much as 

 eighteen thousand pounds behind him. He was possessed 

 of a most powerful and melodious voice, and it was a treat 

 to hear it ringing amongst the trees in Bagot's Woods or 

 the Brakenhurst. In the latter he was quite at home, and 

 a master of the art of placing his men so as to be of the 

 utmost service. There was nothing he disliked so much 

 as too many foxes in one place, and he would send away 

 a litter of cubs to some less favoured locality if they were 

 too thick on the ground. His master knew he had a man 

 he could trust and gave him a free hand. When he 

 retired he lived on at Hoar Cross with his sister, and Mrs. 

 Meynell Ingram found him a horse or two, and he had 

 a grey pony. What is more, she gave him another when 

 one of them broke its leg on landing over the Ash brook 

 near Abbot's Bromley. 



They tell a story of how he had a favourite hound 

 which always stuck close to his horse's heels when the pack 

 was not running or drawing. One day he had lost his fox 

 outside Bagot's Woods and was coming home, when 

 suddenly Miss Meynell Ingram called out, " Look, Tom, 

 look ! What is that hound doing ? " This hound had 

 left his horse's heels, and was going as hard as he could 

 in the direction of a hill close by. They looked and 

 saw a man holding his hat in the air. The inference 

 was that the hound had seen it too and knew what it 

 meant. AVhether they went on and killed the fox is not 

 known. 



Another anecdote shows his great mastery of his 

 hounds. One day the hunt was going up Draycott Cliff, 

 when suddenly a cry of " Mad dog " was raised. Without 

 a moment's hesitation he jumped over the fence, gave one 

 note on his horn, and every hound was out of the road 

 after him much more quickly than these few words can be 

 read. In that, to a great extent, lay his art. He could 

 do anything with his hounds. No man was ever a great 

 success as a huntsman unless he was also what, for want 

 of a better word, we will call " a doggy man." 



VOL. 1. X 



