THE OLD HUNTSMAN AND THE YOUNG MASTER 



" Upon arriving at the Park we found a very spare field, 

 but some of the few urged the propriety of trying the low 

 ground ; and, as is usual in such cases, one suggested a spot 

 ' where there was no frost or snow,' in a direct line to his 

 abode, 



" ' I am satisfied if we go nowhere,' observed one of the 

 half-dozen in pink, ' for it's worth while to come the distance 

 I have to see such hounds,' continued he, with an unqualified 

 look of admiration at the pack. 



" Goosey expected to receive some fresh orders of how and 

 where to proceed at the meet, but not doing so he took his 

 own course, and to satisfy those who care nothing for hounds' 

 feet so long as they can go a-hunting, named the covert he 

 would draw. ' It's about four miles from here,' said the 

 huntsman to me, ' and being out of your road for Melton, 

 I beg to say, sir, it's not worth your while to come with 

 us.' 



" There was an unequivocal meaning in Goosey's voice 

 and look. I took the hint." ' 



The time of the old huntsman was now coming to an end. 

 Although he could still look over the hounds with a just 

 pride in the pack he had had so large a share in building up, 

 yet he could no longer ride to them as of old. 



To be huntsman to Lord Forester was indeed no light task 

 for the physical endurance of any man, for we have Will 

 Goodall's authority for saying that his lordship would never 

 leave off as long as he could see the hounds. Of what the 

 hounds were capable in Goosey's last year, the following run 

 may serve to show us. The meet was at Stubton, the same 

 fixture to which Nimrod had gone nine years before. The 

 fences in the neighbourhood have still a reputation for stiff- 

 ness, and it is probably the most difficult country in England 

 to ride over, with the exception of some parts of Mr. Fernie's. 

 From Reeve's Gorse hounds went away with one of the 

 stout wild foxes for which this part of Lincolnshire is noted. 

 Without a check and with scarcely a slackening of speed 

 hounds ran past Ancaster Gorse and Kelby by Heydour into 

 ^ Sporting Magazine, March, 1842. 

 151 



