72 THE ETON COLLEGE HUNT, 



up. When, however, he sat down to tea there was a loud crack 

 closely resembling the tearing of flannel, and Barclay backed 

 hastily from the room amid much confusion on his part and 

 laughter from the rest of the party. 



Previous to Barclay, S. G. Menzies had hunted hounds for 

 two seasons with signal success, killing twenty-four and twenty- 

 five hares. Not only was he successful in the hunting field itself, 

 but also he was extraordinarily popular with the farmers. He 

 used to write and thank the farmer on whose land was found any 

 hare that gave them a real good hunt. 



But Menzies really made his name as a killer of foxes. He 

 hunted five foxes in all, killing three and running two to ground, 

 one of w^hich was evicted and killed. The first fox to be killed 

 was on Nov. 17th. Here is the account in the Beagle Book. 



'* Went to Dorney after the foxes. We failed to find, 

 however, either in Dorney Court or in the Water Oakley planta- 

 tions, but, on drawing a turnip field at the back of the village, a 

 fox was viewed away, and getting hounds on close behind raced 

 away over Cippenham Big Field towards Chalvey Marsh. How- 

 ever, he swung right-handed for Mr. Tarrant's land and passed 

 Butts to the Line. Here he headed left for Chalvey and crossed 

 the Line close by and went to Willowbrook, where he lay down 

 in a thick fence. Putting him up, he made for the Slough Road, 

 but being headed doubled back through the pack, over 

 Mesopotamia and into the Lower Master's"^ garden, where he got 

 under some logs. HoAvever, hounds pushed him out into Jordan 

 and over the Field, eventually killing a full-grown cub in the 

 Fives Courts, after a very fast hunt of 80 minutes. Truly a 

 triumph for beagles. Point of 2J miles." 



The other great run after a fox found close to Dorney 

 resulted in a kill in the open close to where he was found after 

 a hunt of 55 minutes, very fast, in which a great deal of country 

 was crossed. 



K. S. M. Gladstone, who still keeps a pack of beagles in the 

 New Forest, has sent me a letter in which he describes his hunting 

 experiences at Eton. 



** I was third whip to Geoffrey (* Tim ') Barclay (c.M.w.) 

 during the season 1909-1910. He (Barclay) was one of the very 

 best sportsmen and Etonians I have ever had the fortune to meet. 

 He was the son of Mr. Barclay, the present Master of the 

 Puckeridge Foxhounds, and I had the good fortune also to whip 

 in to him with the T.F.B.t at Cambridge before war broke out. 

 He was always very quiet, but entirely thorough when hunting 

 *The late Mr. F. H. Rawlins. t Trinity Foot Beagles. 



