CHAPTER VI. 



Colonel Fairfax's Master^^iiip. 



The mastership of Colonel Fairfax, which lasted for five 

 seasons, marked an important epoch in the history of the 

 York and Ainsty pack. After the sad death of Sir Charles 

 Slingsby, hounds changed masters and huntsmen frequently, 

 and under such circumstances the pack could not but suffer. 

 Colonel Fairfax was just the man to put things straight. 

 He began with the kennels, which had got into a somewhat 

 dilapidated condition, as those who remember them in the 

 early seventies scarcely require reminding. Patching was 

 not at all to the Colonel's mind, and he determined to pull 

 down and rebuild. So that, as the new stables for the 

 servants' horses remain as a memento of Mr. Egremont 

 Lascelles, so are the new kennels a memento of that love 

 of order which was one of the distinguishing characteristics 

 of his successor. Mr. Charles Hornsey, of York, at that 

 time the agent for the Bilbrough estate, prepared the plans, 

 and the work was proceeded with without delay, most of the 

 expense being defrayed by the master himself 



Nor were Colonel Fairfax's energies confined to providing 

 a comfortable and fitting home for the pack of which he had 

 assumed the mastership. The pack itself was the constant 

 object of his solicitude, and he set to work to improve it 



