130 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT 



was very popular with all classes here, as he was in 

 the Badminton country, where he had been in the 

 habit of hunting for many years. His hard-riding 

 days were over, but he took a keen interest in the 

 sport and was out regularly, though, as already 

 stated, the active duties of field-master really fell to 

 Mr. E. A. Palk. Sir John, who was married, but had 

 no children, lived at Exeleigh, a house he had built 

 at Starcross, close to the entrance to Powderham 

 Park. He was thus at the extreme end of his country 

 and a long way from the kennels. In the field, he 

 wore a low felt " topper " and a black, or very dark, 

 coat with the Beaufort button, and carried a whistle 

 instead of a horn. In those days a whistle had not 

 come to be a part of the regular equipment of a 

 hunt staff, and the hunt servants relied on their 

 voices. That reminds me of an incident that occurred 

 with the Haldon Hounds a year or two after Sir John 

 Duntze resigned. We were mystified by a shrill and 

 prolonged whistle that came from the depths of the 

 Luscombe Woods above Dawlish. It was found that 

 Mr. Henn-Gennys, a deaf-and-dumb gentleman then 

 hunting with the pack, had viewed the fox and was 

 taking the only means at his command of communi- 

 cating the fact to the huntsman. 



Mr. Davies tells how Sir John Duntze, meeting 

 Jack Russell soon after the latter had been persuaded 

 to give up keeping hounds, said to him : " You can't 

 live without hounds, Russell — I know you can't. 

 Now I'll make you an offer ; I'll give you five pounds, 

 if you'll give me one, for every year that you don't 

 keep hounds." And Mr. Davies adds that Sir John 

 was right, for the following season saw Russell with 

 a fresh pack.^ 



1 Lije of the Rev. J. Etiasell, p. 252. 



