120 REMINISCENCES OF A HUNTSMAN 



I once saw in cover a tremendous scent in a deep snow, thus : 

 A heavy fall of snow had so cumbered the great woods, and 

 lain, from the severity of subsequent frost, that in Odell and the 

 Harrold Woods it was up to a man^s knees. On finding it did 

 not ball, and the hounds and men could run and ride among 

 it very well, I took my entire pack, of about sixty couples of 

 hounds, up to Odell Great Wood, and found a fox. It was a 

 still, clear day ; and oh, what a cry ! In places where the snow 

 had drifted, the hounds yelled in their impatience to get through, 

 and they worked their fox for an hour, as if they had been tied 

 to him. To save himself, he broke for Lousacre ; and the 

 instant he was out of cover, from the finest scent I ever saw on 

 the other side the ditch, landed in the open, not a hound could 

 own the line. I made my first cast on the pads of the fox in 

 the snow. Through Lousacre, the hounds ran again like mad ; 

 but the instant the fox broke on the Colworth side, it was all 

 up again. I therefore cast back for the wood, in the hope of 

 another fox ; but not finding one, I went home, the purpose of 

 keeping my hounds in wind having been answered. This hunt, 

 in so deep a snow, was a curious and a beautiful thing to see 

 and hear. 



George Carter came to me at a lucky time. The pack was 

 made, and powerful from its activity, resolution, and youth, the 

 sport increased every day ; and, as I said before, I was in clover. 

 George was with me two seasons, when one day Lord James 

 Fitzroy paid a visit to my kennel. He said nothing whatever to 

 me ; but after he left, George Carter, to my surprise, informed 

 me that his lordship had made him the offer of the huntsman's 

 place under his Grace of Graf ton, as Rose was about to be 

 discharged. When George told me this he added, " They have 

 heard, sir, of our sport, but I fear I should not give them 

 satisfaction unless I could take your hounds with me." I confess 

 that I was not a little angry at the way in which the offer was 

 made, but, as I had a very good opinion of George, as well as a 

 wish that he should look to his own interests, I told him that the 

 Duke of Grafton's place was more likely to be a permanent one 



