THE STAINTON DALE 



47 



likely to be bogged or hung up in the heather before 

 he gets very far in a run, a native ten-pounder being 

 a safer mount for the Stainton Dale country than 

 a high-class hunter. On occasions when Red Robin 

 was unable to fulfil his duties during a long term 

 of office, a horse was hired for the huntsman from 

 one of the livery stables at Scarborough, but this 



stopped out. 



was of the rarest occurrence, the sturdy chestnut 

 being a " pocket-stud " of himself, a sort hard to find. 

 The evening before hunting, Tommy used to 

 drive Red Robin round the country in a pig-cart 

 to collect hounds, sometimes making a journey of 

 a dozen miles or more, and the pack when gathered 

 were shut up for the night in a barn so that they 

 might empty themselves. The farmers who walked 

 hounds fed them like pigs on barley meal or any 

 offal, with biscuit which was the main food, no 

 flesh being given, save what was found when forag- 

 ing. The old huntsman declared against flesh for 

 hounds, as detrimental for hunting qualities, ruining 



