178 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT 



recall, when we ran a fox to ground on the railway 

 embankment somewhere in the neighbourhood of 

 Staverton. The circumstance of a very fast gallop 

 over dusty fallows under a scorching March sun was 

 one to make an impression on the mind of a youngster. 

 At that time Mr. Ross generally rode a white-grey 

 horse. One old hound, Chanticleer, would sit by his 

 horse's heels while the pack was drawing, and when 

 hounds spoke in cover he was a pretty safe guide as 

 to whether it was right or not. 



Mr. Ross was fond of the old-fashioned sport of 

 falconry, which he followed on Haldon and other open 

 places. He was also, like that celebrated sportsman 

 Colonel Peter Hawker, a musician of no mean order, 

 which doubtless accounted for his blowing an excel- 

 lent note on the horn. 



The hunt is indebted to Mr. Ross for twice stepping 

 into the breach and keeping the sport alive. He gave 

 up finally at the end of the season 1881-2 ; and when 

 he did so, he offered to lend his pack and the use of 

 his kennels to the country, or the pack alone, for a 

 definite period ; or, alternatively, to sell his hounds to 

 any master that might succeed him, or to the com- 

 mittee. But as no successor was forthcoming, the 

 Newton side, or southern portion of the South Devon 

 country, was, as already stated,^ claimed by Mr. J. 

 Whidborne and Mr. E. F. Studd, who had then just 

 agreed to take over jointly the Haldon side vacated 

 by the first Baron Haldon (formerly Sir Lawrence 

 Palk) and Sir John Duntze, but the claim was 

 suspended when a new master, in the person of Mr. 

 Hemming, was found for the Newton side. 



Mr. Hemming was procured through an advertise- 

 ment in the sporting papers, and his offer to hunt the 



1 See p. 137. 



