"BOB" 139 



ill the painting, whitewashing, and other like jobs, which keep the 

 Kennels in good order and repair, and skilled for the annual varnish- 

 ing of the hound van. 



At this juncture Bob proposed a visit to " the field " to see some 

 puppies which he was to feed. This field is the latest addition to 

 T.F.B. " plant," and consists in a paddock effectually fenced in and 

 divided into two good grass runs by a fence which no hound can 

 get through or over. In the outer paddock is a kennel for puppies, 

 and in the inner four separate kennels for brood bitches, built of wood 

 and covered with felt, and three of them with enclosed concrete yards. 

 These last have been fitted out at the expense of Mr. Ian Straker, the 

 Master for 1911-12, and are another instance of how the liberality of 

 individuals has contrilnited to the permanent property of the hunt. 



On our return the pack was physicked, Bob still talking, and 

 seeing the meat hanging outside the cookhouse, I asked, as a leading 

 question, if he ever had any himself, and discovered that sometimes 

 (" of course when I knows it's good, sir ") he salts a bit down, and as his 

 friends see him eat they say, " Oh ! that do look good ! " Thus pro- 

 voked he entertains his friends to a bite of boiled beef. This they praise 

 greatly till they are told where it comes from, and then they may chance 

 to be a little annoyed, and, such is the power of suggestion, unwell. 



The new field was, he said, a most useful addition now that hounds 

 do not go out to walk for the summer, and with such walking Bob does 

 not hold. They come back in all sorts of shapes : some " as fat as 

 moles," others with hardly a hair on their bodies ("jess like frogs they 

 is"), others little else than hair, and others again "just about right." 



Here the interview ended with promise of more at a future date, 

 and almost immediately after I received the following long-expected 

 letter from Bob's first master, the Eev. E. A. Milne, now Master of 

 the Cattistock. 



Letter 



Chelfrome, Dorchester, 

 March 11 th, 1912. 



Dear Sir— Yes, I imported " Bob " to Cambridge as a boy. His 

 father was, I think, Kennelraan ^ of the Storrington Beagles in 



1 This was clearly combined with ordinary gamckeeping. 



