130 Reminiscences of a 



this story except to a very few, and don't believe that any 

 of the gentlemen who were out hunting know the real truth 

 to this day.* A hard riding man, though he had seen his 

 best day when I came into the country, was Mr. R. S. 

 Johnson of Sherburn Hall, better known amongst all hunting 

 men and indeed everywhere as " Dicky " Johnson ; a stout 

 heavy man, weighing, or at any rate riding, over eighteen 

 stones. In spite of his weight he knocked along on good 

 weight carrying hunters, and had been a real bruiser in his 

 day. I used to hear gentlemen say that he once had a 

 " pounding match " with one of the hardest men in the 

 Shires, each giving the other a lead in turn over the stiffest 

 place he could find, until Mr. Johnson said he was getting 

 tired of it, and would have it finished off one way or the 

 other, so charged a very stiff, high wall, with a seven feet 

 drop on the landing side, and got over safely ; but he and 

 his horse both gave such a terrible groan when they landed 

 that his mate wouldn't have it at any price, and chucked up 

 the sponge ! And from what I saw of Mr. Johnson, I can 

 quite believe it. 



Once when Mr. R, S. Johnson was out we ran from 

 Humbleknowle to Carr side, crossing Fishburn beck, 

 where the welter weight had dismounted, and he and his 

 second horseman were leading over. I was riding a grey 

 horse called " Lightning," that Tommy Dowdeswell (the 

 huntsman previous to Claxon) used to ride ; of course, I was 

 going at it as hard as the horse could gallop ; he looked up, 

 and not having seen me before asked his man, "If that was 



• It is a remarkable coincidence that whilst John Bevans was relating to me this story, Mr. 

 Hopps himself drove up to my house on a subject of covert repairs, that being the only 

 occasion on which he had ever called on me, and he corroborated what Bevans had said 

 in every particular, remembering it most vividly. This was Wednesday, September 9th, 

 1874. Claxon knew all about it, as his diary shews. 



