10 REMINISCENCES OF A HUNTSMAN 



of water-rats. From having seen me stamp above the hole 

 where the rat went in (they always, like the otter, have a vent- 

 hole to the air) Grumbo would put his nose to the vent-hole 

 or " chimney," and blow down it, and then bob his face quickly 

 over the edge of the bank to watch the water and see if anything 

 went out from the hole beneath. When we killed a water-rat, 

 he would eat it with great relish. To show the extraordinary 

 sagacity to which constant use had inured this dog, I could 

 leave him to guard a small slip of arable land in the midst of 

 the covers, which was planted with potatoes, to keep off the 

 pheasants, and prevent their scratching them up. He would 

 remain there all night, to be ready for break of day, and I used 

 to take him his dinner in a brown paper bag. On these 

 occasions it was necessary to leave some property of mine a 

 stick would do with him, as a sort of rallying-point by which 

 he was to sit. 



I left him the whole of one night in the park at Cranford, 

 in charge of a waggon-load of red-deer, which had been sent 

 from Berkeley Castle for us to hunt, when I assisted my brother 

 Moreton in keeping hounds. Either the waggon had broken 

 down, or it was too late when they arrived to unload it. 

 Grumbo^s duty was to prevent any of the labourers from dis- 

 turbing the deer by looking into the waggon ; and faithfully he 

 did it. 



Boy as I was, and not then very strong, as I had rather shot 

 up too fast for stamina, I deemed my dog and myself a match 

 for a poacher, and my first attempt in this line was on two men 

 stealing pheasants'* eggs, one of whom we took. They ran for it, 

 and as their course was up a grass " balk," or headland, between 

 Harlington Orchards and the corn, on which a cow was tethered, 

 I shall never forget my anxiety, when Grumbo, not quite com- 

 prehending what he was to catch, paused beneath her nose 

 instead of continuing his chase of the men. The dog, however, 

 had some doubts as to the cow, for he looked back at me for 

 confirmation, and on a wave of my arm, which he understood, 

 by previous experience, to mean " forward," he left the cow, and 



