126 Reminiscences of a 



a second horse at hand. I was riding a bay horse called 

 " Hazard " (a roarer it is true, but an extraordinary good 

 one), when I spied fox and hounds coming out of Close 

 wood, with no horsemen near, and joined in with them, and 

 rode through the remainder of the run until Claxon, the 

 huntsman, at Dalton Piercy, the last time round, changed 

 horses with me, both his being " cooked to a turn " ; the 

 hounds were still running hard, and Charley Hawks, the 

 second whipper-in, who was going home with one of Claxon's 

 horses, had the good sense to stop them when going into 

 Close wood for the second time, no one then being in sight 

 of them. Claxon, Mr. Richard Walker, and Will Wilson of 

 Hartlepool, a big, bold man who hadn't been doing much in 

 the morning, were the only horsemen with them when I 

 came across Claxon, and they had all had enough of 

 it. Mr. Richard Walker of Owton was on his old favourite 

 flea-bitten grey mare, and said he must wish me " good 

 afternoon," as the old mare was pulling up into a 

 walk ; then Wilson collared me, and dashed ahead for 

 one field, when the pace knocked the steam out of him 

 likewise. Running round between Brierton and Dalton, 

 we fell in with Mr. Harvey, Mr. C. W. C. Henderson, 

 Mr. Richard Forster, and one or two more ; at this 

 point I gave my horse to Claxon, and ran on foot to the 

 Red Lion Inn to get some gruel for the horses, all of which 

 were dead beat and greatly in want of it. We jogged 

 quietly home to Sedgefield. The horse I rode throughout 

 the day, and carried Claxon near the finish, didn't carry 

 much flesh, and I heard the remark passed round at the 

 meet that I ought to carry him; to which I made answer, 

 by way of saying that neither of us were very heavy, and 

 we might " spell it," that is, each take a turn, but that at 



