THE GOLDEN AGE, 1899— WlJf, 65 



*' Champion knew his work thoroughly ; the Master generally 

 did not (but thought he did — I speak from my own experience), 

 and small wonder if Champion was apt to lay down the law to 

 the new Master. He always did well with the bitches and their 

 whelps in the summer, and had hounds fit by October, taking 

 them for road exercise on a bicycle with his boy ' Gidge ' to 

 whip in. After Christmas, when we hunted three or four days 

 a week, it was no easy job for him to bring out a pack of ten- 

 twelve couple from a kennel of well under twenty couple. Yet 

 we never seemed to have a ' short pack ' out. Champion knew 

 the country and the run of the hares, and was on good terms 

 with the farmers. He was not a great runner, but always seemed 

 to be there when really wanted. Especially was this the case 

 when hounds crossed the railway line. He was not a man of 

 polished manners ; his style being more blunt ; and any one who 

 did not know him would think him sulky. And I remember his 

 invariable way of taking an order was with the words, 

 ' Ooh, ah ! ' 



" I think you would go a long way before finding a better 

 man for the job than George Champion." 



Certainly George Champion is not sulky. Blunt he is, but 

 it is his Yorkshire way, and he is always pleasant. Only the 

 other day a little incident occurred at the kennels which illustrates 

 this bluntness. 



Champion was sitting by his fireside, enjoying a well-earned 

 rest and planning his daily '' doubles." Hearing what he 

 imagined to be a young Etonian after eggs (which he always has 

 for sale), he called out, *' Hullo, what do you want? " 



"I've come to see the hounds," said a voice. 



'' Well, go on through then; they ain't worth looking at." 



" I walked two of them as puppies," said the voice, this time 

 obviously that of a lady. Of course Champion was up 

 immediately, only too keen to display his hounds to the best 

 advantage and full of apologies for his apparent rudeness. 



Champion always has a circle of boys clustered round 

 him on Sunday after twelves, and it is one of the greatest 

 pleasures I know at Eton to go to the kennels and talk 

 hunting with him. Once after a good run early in the present 

 season I had to go and tell a farmer about some cattle which had 

 broken through a fence in the Ditton country, and I reached 

 the kennels just in time to see hounds fed after hunting. After- 

 wards I had tea with the Champions, and a very good tea too, 

 and when I got up to go home I found a beautiful ripe apple 

 ready for me to take. We yarned all the time, and he told me 



F 



