48 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT 



workman in a rough way. Once, after hunting a 

 fox a long time, they ran into a gorse covert. Old 

 John got off his horse and said : ' Mr. Hole, do 'ee 

 hold my horse until I pawk un up again.' He strode 

 into the covert, blew his horn, and soon had the 

 fox afoot again. "^ 



The Reverend E. W. L. Da^-ies also makes men- 

 tion of Beal in connection with the Tiverton. He 

 savs :- 



" He is a good man in a woodland country, and, 

 though somewhat of a veteran " — this was in the 

 year 1850 — " is a rattling, energetic huntsman, keep- 

 ing his hounds together without the aid of a whipper- 

 in." 



Beal was somewhat of a character, as shewn by 

 his remark to Mr. R. H. Watson^ after one of the 

 annual spring I\y bridge Hunt weeks : " Dartmoor 

 hunting is butiful— if you could but see it ; them 

 bogs be always in the way.*' But, then, he was 

 accustomed to the eastern quarter, which we of the 

 South Devon always claim to be the best of Dart- 

 moor ! 



After his retirement, Beal went to live at Shaldon, 

 not far from Haccombe, and died there in a house, 

 facing the bridge, which still bears the name he 

 gave it of " Hunter's Lodge." 



Of Sir Walter's keenness to begin, we may judge 

 by the date of his first cubhunting fixture, 27th 

 July. From that date he hunted steadily on until 

 the 28th May, 1830, putting in eighty-seven days, 

 making a solid ten months' season ! His greatest 

 number of hunting days in one season, however, 



^ E'ghty years' Reminiscences. J. Anstruther Thomson. 

 » Fores's Guide for 1850. 

 » See p. 83. 



