3 o6 THE SPORT OF KINGS 



occasion Joe thought he ought to have an increase 

 of salary, and when he approached the Colonel on 

 the subject he was met with the reply that he 

 thought he had too much salary already, and that 

 he had determined to reduce it by^io per annum. 

 Joe took the rebuff with the best grace he could, 

 and at the end of the season his master made him 

 a handsome present which more than compensated 

 him for the amount of salary which had been 

 docked. 



After Colonel Salkeld had kept the hounds for 

 about four and a half years, Mrs. Salkeld died, and 

 he at once made up his mind to keep hounds no 

 longer, and gave the pack to his trusty servant. 

 No sooner was he possessed of a pack of hounds 

 than Joe determined that it would never do to keep 

 them in idleness a minute longer than was neces- 

 sary, and he soon had them across the border, 

 and made his headquarters at the " Blue Bell " at 

 Lockerbie, which was kept by an old friend of his 

 whom he had known in his horse-dealing days. 

 Stag-hunting was, of course, out of the question 

 now, but there were plenty of wild foxes in Dum- 

 friesshire, and with these Joe Graham had a lot of 

 fun till the season came to an end. Having once 

 tasted the joys of fox-hunting at the hands of such 

 an expert as Joe, the gentlemen of Dumfriesshire 

 thought it would never do to lose sight of his 

 hounds and him, and consequently a meeting was 

 called, subscriptions were raised, and after arrange- 

 ments had been made about the hounds, the late 

 Marquis of Queensberry accepted the Mastership 

 and Joe Graham went on as huntsman, kennels 

 being built at Leafield. When the Marquis died, 

 he was succeeded by Mr. Carruthers, of Dormont, 



