288 THE OLD BERKS HUNT 



hunt his hounds himself for the next season, 

 and that meet was the last time, therefore, that 

 the services of Treadwell would be required. 

 He was about to end his long and honourable 

 service of nineteen years with the Old Berk- 

 shire Hounds. An unusually large field was 

 the result, quite 300 horsemen being present. 

 Treadwell was offered the post of huntsman to 

 the "South and West Wilts Hounds," but he 

 declined the offer. 



Lord Craven showed excellent sport during 

 the following season. It was wonderful how 

 so heavy a man managed to stick to the 

 hounds as he did, and still more wonderful 

 that flesh and blood could stand, even for a 

 time, the work he went through in hunting the 

 country from Ashdown. Nearly every day he 

 drove the hounds down from his place in a van 

 with four horses ; every day, after hunting, he 

 himself drove them back again. Nor would 

 he rest himself, or change his clothes, until he 

 had seen his hounds fed and cared for. Still 

 with it all, the work was thoroughly well 

 done ; and even the most distant part of the 

 country regularly hunted. In January Lord 

 Craven agreed to hunt the country in the 

 same manner for another year, but that was 

 not to be. Monday, January the 15th, 1883, 

 the hounds found a fox at Watchfield Common. 



