TWO BELVOIR AND QUORN RUNS 133 



mistake, enabling me to be quickest up at the 

 finish." 



Alfred Earp, who was whipper-in to Tom Firr for 

 seventeen seasons, and is now huntsman to the 

 South Notts under Lord Harrington's mastership, 

 gives the following story of the eventful day. " Tom 

 Firr, as every one knows, was one of the best that 

 ever blew a horn, and I am certain there never was 

 one that could speak to a hound as he could, or had 

 such a grand voice. When hunting his fox he was 

 always quiet ; he hated noise, and, no matter how 

 bad the. scent, I never knew him lose his temper. 

 I have often seen him on a bad scenting day when 

 casting his hounds, and some of the field, as they 

 very often do, keep moving on, he would work his 

 horse broadside on in front of them, and hold them 

 up, so quietly done that they would not realise his 

 move. I always thought him a marvellous man 

 over a country, no matter how big it was ; he was 

 always with hounds, never in a hurry ; he rode slower 

 at his fences than most people do in Leicestershire, 

 and with rather a loose rein. Like the late Mr. J. O. 

 Trotter — than whom a better man to hounds on a 

 rough horse never was — Firr never lost his temper 

 with his horse, and could get as much out of one as 

 any one I ever knew. On that memorable day 

 when we clashed with the Belvoir at Flint Hill, his 

 w^ords to me were ' Watch your own hounds and 

 stick to me ! ' A little later when crossing a big 

 grass field before we got to the Broughton road, 

 his horse, Revolving Light — a short-tailed brown 

 horse with a white face — struck into an ant-heap 

 and rolled twice over him. He was not a bit 

 flurried, and I do not think Gillard or any of the 

 big field saw it, for we were cutting a corner. Truly 

 he was a tough one ! " 



