DR. HENRY SEARLE GAYE 203 



from the reserve he always carried in its lining. He 

 was a tremendous smoker. 



The following extract from a letter that Mr. Arthur 

 Rendell wrote to me in February, 1887, when I was 

 away in London, is an index of the sport at this time. 

 He ^vrites : " We have been having clipping sport of late. 



" On the 29th January : Raced into a fox in eight 

 minutes in the Dartmoor country, earthed another 

 and wound up with a run of an hoiu* and a half and 

 called off in the dark. 



" On the 1st February : Found a fox on Hamildon 

 Down : thirty-five minutes, earthed and killed. 

 Finished up with three-quarters of an hour in 

 Buckland. 



" On Saturday last : One hour and ten minutes 

 without a check and killed. Fifty-five minutes with 

 another, racing pace without a check, when we 

 changed foxes just as we were running into our 

 hunted one. This was the best thing of the season. 

 Washington Singer, on Cora, done to a turn, and 

 many others pumped ; spills by the dozen, and J. J. 

 Cross on Mr. Whidborne's Swallow came a nice turn 

 over a fence into a ditch full of Ogwell clay and 

 water. Out of a field of eighty, only about fifteen at 

 the finish. I mustn't tell you any more of the good 

 things or you'll get discontented with your lot. . . ." 



The said Swallow was a grey mare that could jump 

 well enough. Sometimes, however, like Mrs. Dombey, 

 she refused to make an eitoit. 



So consistently good was the sport under this 

 master that it would be impossible to pick out the 

 best for special mention. In particular, the sport in 

 the in-country was extraordinarily good. For this 

 thanks were due in a large measure to Mr. Daniel 

 Scratton of Ogwell, some time master of one of the 



