First Whipper-in. 167 



Aycliffe, and were under orders to draw the Windlestone 

 country, but Sir William had not finished the shooting there, 

 so we went the other way, and probably very fortunately, 

 as we fell in for such a fine run. 



I have also a vivid recollection of Mr. W. H. A. Wharton 

 being out on this day on his favourite grey mare, and seeing 

 him get a flying start, but, as bad luck would have it, he 

 landed into a blind ditch before we had gone very far, 

 which caused him to take a back seat for a time, and the 

 pace being hot he was unable to recover his forward 

 position before we ran into our fox. 



About this time we had several good spins in the 

 Hurworth country, as foxes took to running very much from 

 Foxhill and Barker's plantation to Goosepool, and we used 

 to look forward to a gallop in somebody else's country. 



On December 26th, 1882, we had a good day with three 

 or four inches of snow on the ground, running for about 

 three hours, though there was a good deal of " hedgerow 

 business " about it. Sometimes you may get a good day in 

 the snow, and we generally hunted in it this season, but 

 once or twice had to give up for the simple reason that we 

 could not get through any gates. 



January 12th, 1883, was a day to be remembered, both 

 by those who were out and saw the grand hunt and by 

 myself, who was the victim of an accident. We ran round 

 by Lee Close, Bleach House plantation, over Stillington 

 moors, and over the Stockton railway by Crowdy Hall. 

 " Vulcan," the horse I was riding, was terrified at trains ; 

 and, as one happened to be passing, he bolted, dragged me 

 through a thorn bush, which didn't add to my beauty, and 

 then made for the railings alongside the line ; charged them, 

 and getting too near, caught them above the knees and 



