242 THE OLD BERKS HUNT 



This much puzzled Treadwell, who wrote to 

 all his hunting friends asking if they could 

 explain the reason of it. No doubt this 

 slackness had much to do with the bad price 

 obtained. This was the last sale of hounds 

 in the Old Berkshire country. From this 

 time the constitution of the pack has remained 

 the same, with the addition from time to 

 time, of important drafts from well-known 

 kennels. 



New House was a most cheerful and hos- 

 pitable establishment under the genial and 

 jovial Master, and many, now scattered far 

 and wide, still remember and talk of the 

 happy days and nights they passed there. He 

 once gave a large dinner, upon the occasion of 

 a Hunt Ball at Faringdon. He had ordered 

 an omnibus and four horses to take his party 

 to the ball. Needless to say all the guests 

 fared well under the roof of the hospitable 

 Master ; and the postboys, as well as the rest, 

 in their case a little too well in fact, for when 

 they started for Faringdon, in turning out 

 of the drive from New House, at a sharp 

 pace, they managed to run the omnibus 

 against a post on the further side of the 

 road with such force as to break the traces ; 

 whereupon the horses bolted and disappeared 

 into the darkness, first pitching off the pos- 



