190 REMINISCENCES OF 



the cover, but I could make nothing of it. " Sophis- 

 try," "Carver," and some others came back with 

 bloody faces. I looked everywhere on foot, but could 

 find nothing. A shepherd, Robertson, told me that 

 he thought they had killed him near Ardargie, for he 

 saw the hounds " cluster ". Got my horse, broke Mr. 

 Wood's padlock to get on the hill again with the help 

 of Ardargie keeper, Thorburn, and found the head, 

 hind legs and brush. A capital run for hounds. 

 Got some tea at John Richmond's ; rode " Squirrel " 

 to Balbirnie ; got there eight o'clock. Hounds 

 home 10.15. 



1 3th April. West Hounds at Damhead ; a 

 torrent of rain and gale of wind. Started by early 

 train ; met Wemyss at Thornton ; telegraphed to 

 send hounds home, and went to W r emyss Castle- 

 lucky job. The shepherd put his ewes into Clow 

 Wood ; ten of them died from eating wet black- 

 berries. If we had been there the hounds would 

 have had the credit of it. 



May 1882. Bob Vincent came from Badminton, 

 where he was first whip. He was a useless chap 

 and not honest. He got an iron bed on tick and 

 sold it to Harry Shepway and left all his bills in 

 Cupar unpaid. Before Vincent left I was riding up 

 to the kennels. Alexander Milne, my tenant at 

 Newbigging, stopped me on the road, and said, " I 

 hear Vincent is going to leave. He's owing my 

 wife twa pund." I said, "What for?" "Butter 

 and eggs. He's bin eating eggs a' winter at tip- 

 pence the piece a greedy deevil." I told him that 



