THE BLACKMORE VALE. 93 



tistock I was not a little surprised to see a 

 similar thing happen, and when I asked Mr 

 Codrington, the Master, about the hound, he 

 told me that she and another blue-and-white 

 one had come to him in a draft from the Vine, 

 and that, though excellent in their work, they 

 were both very delicate. He supposed that this 

 was the reason they had been parted with. 



After Press's resignation some of the best 

 hounds in the pack w^ould not take to any one 

 else, and George Orbell's first days in the 

 country were in consequence beset with difficul- 

 ties. One hound in particular, named Russian, 

 gave a great deal of trouble. He had to be 

 coupled to get him to the meet at all, and then 

 spent his time wandering about looking for the 

 old huntsman. On one occasion, after searching 

 through the field, Russian trotted resolutely home ; 

 and another day, when Sir Julius Glyn was riding 

 a horse that had formerly been ridden by Press, 

 the hound found him out, and attached himself 

 to him for the remainder of the day. 



A strano-e encounter with Russian once took 

 place in our dining - room at Haddon. When 

 Orbell was on his way to a meet at Warr Bridge, 

 he called at the house to leave a lame hound. 

 Thinking that Russian was now far enough away 

 from home to gro on without further trouble, Orbell 

 uncoupled him while I was in the yard looking at 

 the hounds. Then I went back to the house to get 

 my hat before I mounted, and while I was upstairs 



