102 REMINISCENCES OF A HUNTSMAN. 



little way ofF the kennel, to prevent the smuts from 

 the chimney soiling the coats of my hounds, was also 

 soon finished; and I wrote to my butler, who had 

 behaved so gallantly with Smoker and the stag, to 

 brino- to Harrold my pack, assisted by their kennel- 

 man ; whippers-in were not then in my service. I 

 shall never forget how impatient I was for their ap- 

 pearance on the day of their arrival. The kennel, 

 whitewashed and dry, and the nice clean straw, 

 which I had got put on to the bedsteads, looked 

 so inviting, that I could have slept in it myself. 

 Towards the afternoon, I mounted Noma, and went 

 to meet them. We had a joyous meeting, the 

 hounds and myself, at the bridge near Oakley ; and 

 at the bridge at Harrold the people of the little town 

 and many of the yeomen and farmers came to meet 

 me, the bells in the steeple setting up a merry peal. 

 What happened, was what I feared would happen, — 

 one of the horses of my friends, the rider of which 

 had come up to bid me welcome, severely kicked a 

 hound, though without serious injury; the yeomen 

 and farmers then attended me to the kennel, and 

 Harrold, for the first time in its existence, con- 

 tained a pack of hounds. The first purchase I made 

 in horse-flesh was of ponies for cub-hunting, and one 

 or two likely young horses from farmers, out of con- 

 dition. In buying these horses, and knowing the 

 points of a clever horse, though lean, I took care that 

 they were large enough for machiners, so that, if they 

 did not train on to be hunters, at the out-of-condition 

 price I gave for them, I could not lose money. Some 

 of these horses turned out admirably; for one, for 

 whom I gave thirty pounds, after I had ceased to keep 

 hounds, I sold at three hundred guineas ; and many 

 more paid me, besides their work, double and treble 



