MR. EDWARD FAIRFAX STUDD 161 



mined to hunt the pack himself for the future. Gery, 

 from Mr. Lobb's, was engaged as kennel-huntsman 

 and to carry the horn when professional duties kept 

 his master in London. Gery, however, though a 

 steady man and a good servant, was a failure as 

 huntsman. 



It is rather surprising that a man of Mr. Studd's 

 quick perceptions and impulsive nature should have 

 had the patience and perseverance so essentially 

 necessary to a huntsman in such a country as the 

 Haldon side. Yet he had these qualities in a marked 

 degree, and, indeed, occasionally carried the " Let- 

 'em-alone " system too far, as the following instance 

 will shew. Hounds had checked on a large patch of 

 burnt heather on Haldon. Some moments elapsed, 

 and still the master did not take hold of them. 

 George Loram then rode up to him and said quietly : 

 " Beg pardon, sir. The fox isn't here, sir ; we should 

 see him if he was here, sir.'''' Loram had " a way with 

 him " and could say these things, and Mr. Studd was 

 too good a sportsman to take umbrage at a friendly 

 hint from so good a judge. So he held the pack 

 forward and recovered the line at once. 



Mr. Studd's tastes as a naturalist had developed 

 his power of observation, a faculty so useful to a 

 huntsman. He was, in addition, very persevering, 

 and no man was ever more keen. He would hang on 

 to the line of a fox as long as there was a scrap of 

 scent left, and he was very thorough in drawing. 

 We were never asked to go home as long as daylight 

 served, and it was often dark before we finished, for 

 many a fox was found after four o'clock and some, 

 when days grew longer, an hour and more later. Once, 

 in cubhunting, a tired fox could not be forced to leave 

 the little covert at Harcombe for more than a few 



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