156 



CHAPTER IX. 



GOOD SPORT. 



Mr Merthyr Guest's mastership of the Black- 

 more Vale began in 1884, when he was already a 

 well-known follower of the hounds. He had come 

 into the country in 1864, and lived for some time 

 at Fifehead Magdalen, from which place he moved 

 to Inwood after his marriage. The autumn 

 generally saw him following the fox in Leicester- 

 shire, but after Christmas he used to hunt six days 

 a-week with the Blackmore Vale and one or other 

 of the neighbouring packs. After he took com- 

 mand of the B. V. Hunt he was out four days 

 a-week in his own country, and generally had two 

 more with Lord Portman or the South and West 

 "Wilts. When Mr Guest started his private pack 

 in 1885 his own hounds gave him the two extra 

 days in the Vale. 



During the sixteen years that Mr Guest hunted 

 the country at his own expense I was a follower 

 of his hounds. Two days in the week the Master 

 used to carry the horn himself, the huntsman 

 carrying it on the other four days. The hunt 



